Last Updated on December 30, 2019
A full day after the tragic shooting that saw two lose their lives, the FBI and local authorities still have not released the identity or race of the White Settlement, Texas church shooter.
On Sunday, an armed man entered the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas and began shooting into the congregation.
Two were killed by the gunman before a member of the congregation returned fire with his pistol.
Before the video was taken down, a live stream of the church service showed Jack Wilson, the heroic 71-year-old parishioner, fire one bullet toward the gunman. The blood on the wall behind the gunman suggested the gunman was shot in the head.
The gunman did not survive.
Video has been made available on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/Joshuajered/status/1211451310781816839
However, a day later authorities still have not publicly released information about the shooter’s identity, race, or possible motives.
Instead, the FBI claimed the shooter was a “transient” who had “ties in the area” as well as previous arrests.
The gunman had a previous arrest record, said Matthew J. DeSarno, an FBI special agent in charge of Dallas, according to the Associated Press. He described the gunman as a “relatively transient” person with roots in the area.
Cummings said that the gunman was “acting suspiciously” before the shooting and drew the attention of the church’s security team, according to the Times.
“He was immediately hit by one of our marksmen,” Cummings said, according to the Times. “The next thing I know, he was lying on the floor.”
Some have invoked “Coulter’s Law,” the idea popularized by Ann Coulter, that the longer the public is not given information from police, the less likely the gunman is to be white.
⚡️Roger that #CoultersLaw #TheAnnCoulterRule #Activated 🚨 pic.twitter.com/TrmN1gUFcs
— Anntensity (@anntensity) December 30, 2019
The lack of transparency from law enforcement may lead some to compare the law enforcement response to the response after the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay shooting, when law enforcement was reluctant to give information about the shooter or his motives.
Years later, the public still has not been given a clear motive for the Las Vegas shooting.