Sutherland Springs, TX – A mass shooting at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas left dozens dead and many more injured after a gunman dressed in combat gear entered the small rural church and began gunning down attendees – including numerous women and children.

The New York Times identified the shooter as Devin P. Kelley, a former Air Force veteran who was court martialed in 2014 and sentenced to a year in military prison for assaulting his spouse and child. He was reduced in rank and released with a bad-conduct discharge in 2014.

According to a report by The Washington Post:

Authorities said 26 people were killed in the Sunday rampage… The dead included eight relatives spanning three generations in a single family. While officials had said the victims ranged in age from 5 to 72, one family said a 1-year-old girl was also killed, part of the eight family members slain in the attack.

The attack came to an end when a heroic citizen driving past the church noticed the gunman exiting the church exchanging gunfire with a local citizen and grabbed his own rifle. The two heroes then gave chase to the gunman who fled in an SUV.

The shooter crashed during the high-speed pursuit, and authorities say it's unknown at this point whether he took his own life, or died from being struck during the gunfight with the local men.

Additionally, the tragedy was compounded by the fact that "there are no medical facilities" in the extremely rural town of Sutherland Springs – and the closest medical facility being nearly 30 miles away, according to KENS5.

Local news reports indicate that perhaps half of the small church's congregation was killed in the attack, as only 40-50 people generally attend services on any given day.

"My heart is broken," Wilson County Commissioner Albert Gamez told CNN. "We never think where it can happen, and it does happen. It doesn't matter where you're at. In a small community, real quiet and everything, and look at this, what can happen."