The Latest: Funeral under way for family in Texas shooting

AP Photo/Eric Gay

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (AP) — The Latest on the funeral for some victims of the Texas church shooting (all times local):

1:30 p.m.

A funeral service for eight members of one family who were among the more than two dozen killed in a shooting at a small Texas church has gotten under way with 3,000 mourners in attendance and hundreds more turned away.

Church member John Holcombe survived the massacre and invited the public to the service Wednesday for his pregnant wife and three of her children, his parents, a brother and a toddler niece. The funeral is taking place at an event center in Floresville, Texas, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, where the shooting occurred.

A string of limousines carrying victims’ families accompanied the black and white hearses to the event center. Fire marshal and sheriff’s deputies stood by as hundreds of others waited in line to enter the service, some in funeral attire and others in casual clothes.

News reporters are barred from entering and are being held in a pen with two trucks obscuring the view inside.

The dead will be buried privately on an unspecified date.

—

12:30 p.m.

Hundreds of mourners have lined up to enter a funeral service for eight members of a family who were among the more than two dozen killed in a shooting at a small Texas church.

At least seven hearses could be seen Wednesday outside an event center in Floresville, Texas, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, where the shooting occurred. News reporters are barred from entry and are being held in a pen with two trucks obscuring the view inside.

John Holcombe was among the shooting’s few survivors. The funeral is for his pregnant wife and three of her children, his parents, a brother and a toddler niece.

Holcombe managed audio-visual operations at the back of the church and escaped with minor injuries. His 7-year-old step-daughter Evelyn also fled.

—

01:00 a.m.

One of the survivors of a mass shooting at a small Texas church will hold a funeral Wednesday for his pregnant wife and three of her children, his parents, a brother and a toddler niece.

John Holcombe has arranged a public funeral for his family at an event center in Floresville, Texas, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, where the shooting occurred. A procession of hearses will travel from the funeral home to the center.

The dead will be buried privately on an unspecified date.

Devin Patrick Kelley shot and killed 25 people at the church Nov. 5. Authorities have put the official toll at 26, because Holcombe’s wife, Crystal Holcombe, was pregnant.

Kelley died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.