EMT who responded to Texas Church Shooting lost family members there

AP File Photo

The sight of Sunday's deadly mass shooting is reportedly going to be demolished.  The memories of what happened there are too painful for the community to bare.  Pastor Frank Pomeroy was not in attendance during Sunday's shooting, however his 14 year old daughter was reportedly among the dead.

Pomeroy told church leaders it would be too devastating for the congregation to worship there after what happened.  No decision will be made without discussing it with the congregants, but Pomeroy envisions constructing a memorial at the site to remember the victims.  Other potential rebuilding sites are being reviewed.

Devin Kelley is the one man responsible for destroying the place dozens of people in this small town came to worship and give back to the community they call home.  What gives him the right?  Why a church?  Why, period?  I'll never understand people who feel the need to take out as many people as they can because they are unsatisfied with their life, feel slighted by the world or any other number of reasons that are just not legitimate.  Mental illness may explain some of these incidents but they still are not justified in any way.

To highlight how small this community must be, one of the EMT's responding to the 911 call realized her family was at the church she was racing to as a first responder.  Can you imagine the shock and disbelief she must have felt when that call came in and the location was read?  EMT Torrey MacCallum said at that moment "her heart sank".  MacCallum's sister in law Crystal Holcombe and three of Holcombe's children (Emily, Megan & Greg) died during the shooting.  Crystal had been married to Torrey's brother before his death.  She had remarried following the death of her first husband and reportedly has children with her second husband.  To make this unthinkable tragedy a little more awful, MacCallum was pregnant at the time of her death.

I can't think of any words that would be powerful enough to comfort EMT Torrey MacCallum.  I only hope that she has a strong support structure in place because this is so devastating it would be hard for even the most devout to recover.  My thoughts and prayers are with Torrey, her family as well as all of the first responders who race into dangerous situations to keep the public safe and provide medical attention in stressful situations.

It's unfortunate the shooter responsible for this destruction is among the dead. He should have had to stand trial, before a Judge and jury to answer for his heinous acts.  Texas is a death penalty state and they aren't afraid to execute people for killing innocent people.  I'm not necessarily pro death penalty, however it's there for a reason.  Reasons like this.  If the death penalty isn't used in these sorts of crimes, we might as well abolish it altogether.

Let's all pray for better days ahead.  Thanks to the brave men and women who responded to this nightmare that day and will forever have the awful memory ingrained in their heads.  Nobody should have to endure that.  We are in your debt and forever thankful people like you exist.