As All Saints Day worship wrapped up at Floresville United Methodist Church, the Rev. Peter Aguilar got word of a mass shooting.
It had happened at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, in the same rural Texas county as his church.
“I know the sheriff, so I called him and said, ‘Do you need me?’” Aguilar recalled in a phone interview. “He said, ‘Yeah.’”
By 12:15 p.m., Aguilar had made the 10-mile drive and arrived at the scene, the first local pastor to counsel survivors, first responders and others.
“They had already roped off the church, but there were shell casings all over and a body on the front lawn. It was carnage,” Aguilar said.
