Texas police are admitting they screwed up an investigation into Devin Kelley, the scumbag who slaughtered 26 people at a church, four years before he committed the horrid act.
Buzzfeed discovered the botched investigation after obtaining new records:
Texas investigators did not follow up on a sexual assault report that was made against Devin P. Kelley, the shooter who a few years later would open fire into a small church and kill 26 people, according to records obtained by BuzzFeed News.
Kelley forcibly held a woman down and choked her when she refused to perform oral sex, then slapped her when she tried bite him in an effort to get him to stop, according to the records.
Authorities told BuzzFeed News they tried to contact Kelley four months after the report was made, but “the investigation stalled” after the detective was unable to get a hold of him.
That’s it? They dropped it because he simply didn’t answer their phone calls? Amazing.
In a statement, Comal County Sheriff Mark W. Reynolds said the department made mistakes in not linking Kelley to other multiple violent incidents.
“This was an error on the part of the sheriff’s office in 2014, not linking the suspect back to the 2013 sexual assault case,” Reynolds told BuzzFeed News in a statement. “The report should have been reviewed and arrest warrants probably should have been issued and the suspect questioned.”
The report states that the detective assigned to the assault was unable to contact the victim after the initial report was made, including calls made to her on July 18, July 25, and Sept. 18 in 2013. The detective also mailed a letter to the victim on Oct. 7, 2013, but the case was placed on inactive status on Oct. 14.
The report doesn’t detail any further contact with the victim, but Reynolds told BuzzFeed News detectives spoke with the victim again sometime in October. The case was shelved, he said, when the detective in the case, Chris Garza, “was unsuccessful” in contacting Kelley in late October or early November.
The report does not list any efforts to contact Kelley, however.
Very weird. I don’t see a conspiracy here however, this is plain old government incompetence. But hey let’s blame another shooting that could have prevented on guns instead…