Brooke Bryann Ward was 5 years old when she was killed on November 5, 2017, in the mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. She was attending Sunday service with her family and was among 26 people killed and 20 injured when the shooter, Devin Patrick Kelley, opened fire. Brooke’s mother Joann Ward and her 7-year-old sister Emily Garcia were also killed that day.

The shooter, identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, had a prior court-martial in 2012 for assaulting his wife and stepson, was discharged from the Air Force for bad conduct, and had escaped from a mental health facility in 2012. The Air Force later acknowledged it failed to report Kelley’s criminal history to the FBI, which meant his disqualifying record did not appear in the background check system that allowed him to purchase firearms. Victims’ families filed lawsuits against the federal government seeking accountability for that failure.

Brooke was a young child taken with her family at church on that day.