Crews have torn down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017. The crews used heavy machinery Monday to raze the small building in Sutherland Springs even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.

Some residents of the Texas community wanted to preserve the sanctuary where 26 victims "took their last breaths."

On Monday, Smith watched with sadness as workers demolished the building where her friend Joann Ward and Ward’s two young daughters died. Though she wasn't a member of the congregation, Smith said she often visited the shuttered church grounds in the years after the shooting to honor her loved ones.

Crews on Monday tore down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.

Crews in Southerland Springs, Texas, demolished the First Baptist Church where a gunman shot and killed 26 people in 2017.

Crews on Monday tore down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.