Crews begin demolishing Texas church where gunman killed more than two dozen in 2017 WSB-TV Channel 2 [Video]

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas — (AP) — Crews on Monday began to tear down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history.

A judge cleared the way last month for the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs to tear down the sanctuary where the attack took place, which until now had been kept as a memorial. That ruling came after some families in the community of less than 1,000 people filed a lawsuit hoping for a new vote on the building’s fate. Church members voted in 2021 to tear it down.

Authorities put the number of dead in the Nov. 5, 2017, shooting at 26 people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. After the shooting, the interior of the sanctuary was painted white and chairs with the names of those who were …