SAN ANTONIO – Demolition can move forward on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs where a gunman killed 26 people and wounded 22 others during a Sunday service in 2017.
On Monday, the deputy clerk for Wilson County told reporters a judge denied the extension of a ruling that prevented the church from being torn down.
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Following the shooting, the church turned the sanctuary into a memorial for the victims. Congregation members voted to demolish it in 2021, citing structural issues.
A temporary restraining order was granted on July 2, after allegations surfaced that not all church members or families of victims were heard from during the vote to raze the original church building and memorial.
“We knew for a little while that there was a vote. We didn’t believe the vote was fair,” Charlene Uhl said. Uhl is the mother of Haley Kruger. The 16-year-old was among the more than two dozen victims killed in the massacre.
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The shooting at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs is the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history, and the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history.
