TEXAS CHURCH MASSACRE | 2 men in a truck chase down Texas church shooter: 'Let's go'

7:50 p.m.

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (AP) — A former National Rifle Association instructor who grabbed his rifle and ran barefoot across the street to open fire on the gunman who slaughtered 26 people at a small-town Texas church was hailed as a hero today, along with the pickup truck driver who helped chase the killer down.

Stephen Willeford, 55, said he was at his Sutherland Springs home Sunday when his daughter alerted him that she'd heard gunfire at the First Baptist Church nearby. Willeford said he immediately retrieved his rifle from his weapon safe.

"I kept hearing the shots, one after another, very rapid shots – just 'Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!' – and I knew every one of those shots represented someone, that it was aimed at someone, that they weren't just random shots," Willeford said during an interview with television stations KHBS/KHOG in Fort Smith and Fayetteville, Ark.

Willeford said he loaded his magazine and ran barefoot across the street to the church where he saw gunman Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, and exchanged gunfire.

"He saw me and I saw him," Willeford said. "I was standing behind a pickup truck for cover. I know I hit him. He got into his vehicle, and he fired another couple rounds through his side window. When the window dropped, I fired another round at him again."

As Kelley sped away, Willeford said he ran to a pickup truck stopped an intersection and told the driver, "That guy just shot up the Baptist church. We need to stop him."

The driver, Johnnie Langendorff, said he had been driving to Sutherland Springs on Sunday to pick up his girlfriend when a man who'd been exchanging gunfire with Kelley suddenly landed inside his truck.

"He jumped in my truck and said, 'He just shot up the church, we need to go get him.' And I said, 'Let's go,'" Langendorff, a 27-year-old Seguin resident, told The Associated Press today, adding the ensuing pursuit eventually clocked speeds upward of 90 mph.

Willeford said he and Langendorrf kept a 911 operator advised as the high-speed pursuit continued. He said Kelley ultimately hit a road sign and flipped his vehicle into a roadside ditch.

Willeford said he then got out of Langendorrf's pickup, perched his rifle on the rooftop and trained it on the Kelley's vehicle. He then yelled: "Get out of the truck,! Get out of the truck!" But Kelley did not move.

5:29 p.m.

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (AP) — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says the "bravery and courage" of a citizen who shot back at the gunman in the Texas church attack should be celebrated.

The Republican senator from Texas spoke after talking to law enforcement officials and visiting the church in Sutherland Springs where Devin Kelley killed 26 people and wounded about 20 more.

When a reporter asked Cruz about gun control, he noted the recent terrorist attack with a truck in New York and said "Evil is evil."

He then lauded the "ordinary citizen" who engaged the gunman. Cruz says that law enforcement officers showed him where the citizen hid behind a car and took incoming shots from the gunman.

Cruz said he asked law enforcement what would have happened if the citizen had not used his own gun to confront Kelley. Cruz said they responded that the death toll would have been higher.

12:43 p.m.

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (AP) — The special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in Houston says three guns have been recovered from the suspect in the deadly church shootings in Texas.

Fred Milanowskisaid during a news conference Monday that officers recovered a Ruger AR-556 rifle at the church.

Milanowski said two additional handguns were recovered from the vehicle driven by Devin Patrick Kelley — a Glock 9mm and a Ruger .22-caliber. Milanowski says all three weapons were purchased by the now-deceased suspect.

Freeman Martin with the Texas Department of Public Safety said Kelley did not have a license to carry a concealed handgun. He says he did have a “noncommissioned, unarmed private security license similar to a security guard at a concert-type situation.”