Texas church shooter's father breaks silence, 'We are grieving'

The father of Texas church shooter Devin Kelley broke his silence on Wednesday to say his family was in mourning.

Michael Kelley, who lives just 35 miles away from Sutherland Springs, where his son killed 25 people and an unborn child at the First Baptist Church, told ABC, "We are grieving, our family is grieving."

The 26-year-old shot himself in the head after he sustained two gunshot wounds from Stephen Willeford, who grabbed his rifle when he heard shots ring out inside the church.

The gunman’s father declined to comment any further on Wednesday, saying, “I don’t want our lives, our grandchildren’s lives, destroyed by this media circus.”

What we know about the Texas shooting suspect:

Three days after the worst mass shooting in Texas history, authorities are reviewing video footage from inside the church.

The church regularly recorded its services, and there was “no one to turn [the camera] off” when Kelley opened fire, according to a law enforcement official who has seen the video.

Authorities have also obtained Kelley’s locked iPhone, although investigators have not yet been able to access the contents.

In a statement Wednesday evening, Apple said it’s offered the FBI technical advice after learning the bureau was trying to access the phone. The company said the FBI had not requested its assistance.

Depending on the model of iPhone and what security features it had, FBI agents might have had a short window to use alternative methods to access its data.

For instance, if the iPhone used Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensing system, agents could have tried placing the dead gunman’s finger on the phone to unlock it. But that would only have worked within 48 hours of the last time the phone was locked.

Meanwhile, more details emerged about the gunman’s past.

School records showed that Kelley was a disciplinary problem in high school, and his grades slipped with each passing year at New Braunfels High School.

A former friend said Kelley asked her for sexual favors and prevented his first wife from communicating with her friends.

Kelsey Huckaby told Austin television station KTBC that Kelley was “kind of controlling of his girlfriends” in high school.

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Huckaby said she lost contact with Kelley until he responded to a Facebook post she made in April asking for a place to stay for her and her boyfriend. She said Kelley offered to let them stay in a trailer on his property if she performed weekly “sexual favors” for him.

Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Texas on Wednesday, visiting wounded victims at a San Antonio hospital and later meeting families of the dead in Floresville, not far from Sutherland Springs.

With News Wire Services.