Couple Killed in Texas Church Memorialized Son There

Robert and Shani Corrigan had just buried their son last year
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 7, 2017 1:34 PM CST
Couple Killed in Texas Church Held Son's Memorial There
A couple visits a makeshift memorial for victims near the scene of a shooting at the First Baptist Church on Tuesday in Sutherland Springs, Texas.   (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

On Nov. 26 of last year, Robert and Shani Corrigan lost their 25-year-old son to suicide. They held his memorial service at Sutherland Springs' First Baptist Church in Texas, where the Michigan couple had moved years prior to start a new life. Less than a year after his death, they were killed at the same church during Sunday's shooting rampage, the Detroit Free Press reports. "They were trying to deal with the loss of a child, which occurred months ago. Now this? I can't imagine how their other two children are having to deal," said one childhood friend of the couple, who were high school sweethearts. "Things like this aren't supposed to happen."

Another friend wrote on Facebook that at least the Corrigans are "hopefully back together" with their son now. "Bob loved playing guitar for the church music ministry more than anything else—and was likely doing that when him and Shani were killed," the friend added. Robert Corrigan had retired from the Air Force a few years ago, reports the Omaha World-Herald; he had also been the music minister at the couple's church in Nebraska when they lived there. He was known for playing the guitar and writing his own music, and his wife sang: "Anything she sang, she sang well," the reverend of their Nebraska church recalls. The couple leaves behind two other sons, who are both in the military. (More mass shootings stories.)

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