'I Had Given Him Food': Pastor Knew Gunman in Fort Worth Church Shooting

The senior pastor of West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas says he knew the gunman who shot and killed two of his church members on Sunday.

During a Monday night church meeting and prayer vigil Pastor Britt Farmer told church members that 43-year-old Keith Thomas Kinnunen had come to the church before Sunday's shooting.

"I had seen him. I had visited with him. I had given him food," said Farmer.

Farmer praised the two men who lost their lives in the tragedy: 67-year-old security team member Richard White and 64-year-old deacon Tony Wallace.

"I lost two great men, friends, men that I consider putting above myself who did the same for me," said Farmer.

Farmer encouraged the church to "stay bold" in the face of evil and said there is no other way except for total surrender to Christ.

"We know that God is with us and He went before us in an act of violence Himself. We will not give up, nor expect us to be silent - not until He's called us home," said Farmer.

Witnesses say Kinnunen was wearing a fake beard, a wig, a hat, and a long coat when he walked into the church for its 10:30 Sunday morning service.

In the middle of the service, he shot Wallace, who was serving communion, and White, who was apparently reaching for his gun.

Seventy-one-year-old Jack Wilson, the head of the church's security team, then shot and killed Kinnunen.

Wilson helped to create the security team 18 months ago after the church moved to a new area and became more concerned about crime. He has been a firearms instructor since 1995 and spent six years in the Army National Guard.

Wilson said that in the seconds after Kinnunen shot Wallace and White the sanctuary became chaotic as church members members began to move and he struggled to get a clear window that would allow him to shoot.

"The only clear shot I had was his head because I still had people in the pews that were not all the way down as low as they could. That was my one shot," said Wilson on Monday as he recollected the scene.

Wilson killed Kinnunen with that single shot but says he's not a hero. "I was doing what I needed to do to protect the people of the congregation," he said. "I don't feel like I killed a human being. I killed evil - and that's how I'm processing it."

Family members of the victims are struggling to make sense of the tragedy. Tiffany Wallace told the KXAS-TV in Dallas that she's at a loss to understand what happened to her father.

"I ran toward my dad and the last thing I remember is him asking for oxygen," she said. "I was just holding him, telling him I loved him and that he was going to make it. You just wonder, why? How can someone so evil - the devil - step into the church and do this?"

White's daughter-in-law called him a hero on Facebook. "You stood up against evil and sacrificed your life," Misty York White said. "Many lives were saved because of your actions. You have always been a hero to us but the whole world is seeing you as a hero now."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton described the gunman as a loner. "I don't think he had a lot of connections to very many people," he said.

Authorities say Kinnunen had a long criminal record that includes assault charges in other states. 

A KXAS investigation shows that in 2012 Kinnunen's wife sought a protective order, describing him as a "violent, paranoid person with a long line of assault and batteries with and without firearms."

On Monday, Paxton said a new state law helped to prevent an even greater bloodbath. It affirms the right of licensed handgun holders to carry a weapon in places of worship unless the facility bans them. 

Paxon also praised the church security team.

"We can't prevent every crazy person from pulling a gun," he said. "But we can be prepared like this church was."