WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CBS) “He kind of half turned toward me and that’s when I took the shot,” said Jack Wilson.
Volunteer
Security Director Jack Wilson is being hailed as a hero for taking down a
gunman Sunday inside the West Freeway Church of Christ.
“I don’t feel like a killed an
individual,” continued Wilson. “l, I killed evil. That is how
I am processing it.”
Armed
congregants, members of a church security team, confronted the shooter just
seconds after he pulled a shotgun from his pants and killed two male
parishioners.
“They had done their training
and despite the fact we had two horrible losses of life. This church responded in seconds and saved
the lives of potentially the rest of the people in that church which I was told
well over 200 people,” said Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General.
Church members identified the victims as Richard White and Tony Wallace.
The FBI is working with local and state investigators to figure out what may
have motivated the shooter.
“My understanding is that he
didn’t have a direct connection. He had
been here several times and my understanding is they were very open to helping
people who were transient or homeless or needed help,” said Paxton. “It is probably going to be
very difficult to determine what his motives were, other than mental illness.”
Isabel Arreola and her family noticed the man sitting toward the back of the
church.
“I don’t feel comfortable. I said, you know, he is just giving me a bad
vibe,” said Arreola.
She was within feet of the gunman when he started shooting.
“I tell my husband, ‘Let’s go. Give me my baby.’ I just say ‘I gotta get
her out of here,’” said Arreola.
Jack Wilson says the shooter was wearing a fake beard and that he was being
watched from the moment he walked into the church.
The Texas attorney general says he believes security preparations made at this house of worship should be used as a model to prevent other church shootings.
