Families of the victims accompanied black and white hearses in limousines as fire marshals and sheriff’s deputies shepherded hundreds more – some in funeral attire, others in everyday clothes – to the service in Floresville, Texas, about 12 miles from the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, where the shooting occurred.
Church member John Holcombe, among the massacre’s few survivors, invited the public to attend the funeral of his pregnant wife, Crystal, 36, and three of her children, Greg, 13, Emily, 11, and Megan, nine; his parents, 60-year-old Bryan and Karla Holcombe, 58; a brother, 36-year-old Marc Holcombe, and Marc’s 18-month-old daughter, Noah.
They will be buried privately on an unspecified date.
News reporters were barred from entering the event centre and were being held in a pen with two trucks obscuring the view inside.
The gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley, began firing into the church as John Holcombe’s father Bryan an assistant pastor, ascended to the pulpit.
Walking up and down the centre aisle, Kelley killed 25 people at the church, including crying babies at point-blank range, according to witness accounts.
Authorities have put the official toll at 26, because Crystal Holcombe was pregnant.
Mr Holcombe was managing the church’s audio-visual operations at the back of the building and escaped with minor injuries.
Crystal Holcombe’s…
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