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The gunman accused of the worst mass murder in Texas history was part of an intra-family feud and had "a purpose and a mission" when he unleashed hell with a Ruger assault-type rifle in a small-town Baptist church, investigators said Monday.

But Devin Patrick Kelley's mother-in-law, who authorities said may have been his potential target, wasn't at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs when he opened fire on Sunday, killing 26 people ages 18 months to 77 — almost half of them children.

Photos: Two Dozen Parishioners Killed in Texas Church Shooting

The woman is talking to investigators who are trying to come up with a motive for the deadliest massacre ever at a U.S. house of worship — and the military is trying to determine how it failed to report that the gunman had been convicted of sexual assault, which should have barred him from buying guns.

"I think he came here with a purpose and a mission," Freeman Martin, regional commander of the state Department of Public Safety, said at a news conference Monday evening.

Martin disclosed that at least 15 empty 30-round ammunition magazines were found at the church, along with "hundreds" of shell casings" — more than he would ever need, Freeman said, to "take care of the mother-in-law."

"There was conflict between the families, but I can't say if it was revenge or not," Martin said. He did, however, rule out racial or religious motivations.

Kelley's mother-in-law from his most recent marriage, in 2014, lives in Sutherland Springs and had received threatening texts from Kelley, said authorities who wouldn't identify the woman or elaborate on the messages.

Related: 'Sick in the Head': Ex-Girlfriends Say Texas Shooter Stalked Them

Twenty-three people were killed inside the sanctuary, Martin said, adding that authorities have "a video recording from inside the church." Two more people were killed outside the building, and one person died later at a hospital.

Earlier Monday, Martin warned that the death toll "could rise" because half of the 20 wounded victims were in critical condition.

Kelley was found dead after the massacre in his vehicle — apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Martin said. A Glock and a Ruger handgun were found inside the Ford Expedition he had been driving, and a Ruger AR-556 rifle was recovered at the church, Martin said.

Kelley, who was 26 and lived in nearby New Braunfels, had been wounded earlier when he got into a gunfight outside the church with a man who lived nearby and was armed with at AR-15 assault-type rife, Martin said.

Martin didn't identify the "hero Texan" who traded shots with Kelley, whose body was found with three gunshot wounds, "two from the citizen, one apparently self-inflicted."

He said that as Kelley raced away from the crime scene, "the suspect did notify his father that he had been shot and that he was not going to make it."

Meanwhile, the Air Force acknowledged Monday that an officer failed to enter Kelley's domestic violence court-martial into a national database that would have barred him from buying weapons. Top Air Force brass ordered a "complete review of the Kelley case" by the service's inspector general, said Ann Stefanek, a spokeswoman for the service.

Kelley was court-martialed in 2012 on two charges of assaulting his spouse and their child. He was confined for a year and then discharged for bad conduct in 2014.

More:

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyl...s-mother-law-n817961

Desperation met stupidity on the corner of bad luck and despair, and the democratic party was born.

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