Pastor who lost teen daughter in Texas mass shooting wants to tear church down

Frank Pomeroy, the pastor of First Baptist Church, and his wife Sherri attend a prayer vigil for the shooting victims on Nov. 8.
(RICK WILKING/REUTERS)

The small-town Texas pastor whose teen daughter was among 26 victims slain in a mass shooting wants to tear down the church where the slaughter occurred.
The bullet-riddled First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs will be replaced by a memorial garden under the proposal by Rev. Frank Pomeroy, church officials said Thursday.
Pomeroy, in a meeting with high-level members of the Southern Baptist Convention, said the cozy white church was now “a very painful setting” and called for its demolition.

Church regulars Richard Rodriguez, 51, and his wife Theresa were killed during the mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Nov. 5, 2017.

Victims of the Texas church shooting

Many in his congregation had no desire to set foot inside the house of worship turned house of horrors, he said.

Among the innocent, unarmed worshippers killed in the attack was the pastor’s 14-year-old daughter Annabelle. A pregnant woman and her unborn child were also slain as the attacker fired more than 400 bullets.

MANDATORY CREDIT; AUSTIN CHRONICLE OUT; COMMUNITY IMPACT OUT; WEBSITES AND TV MUST CREDIT PHOTOGRAPHER AND STATESMAN.COM — Law enforcement surrounds the scene of the mass shooting at a Texas church on Nov. 5.
(Nick Wagner/AP)

Under the plan, a new church will be constructed on property near the site of the old one. First Baptist had a congregation of roughly 100, with a quarter of them killed in the Sunday morning massacre.
Convention president Frank Page and other church officials were in Sutherland Springs offering solace this week to Pomeroy and the surviving congregants.

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