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A woman in the bushes still felt warm, but she had no pulse.

“There was no face,” Steven Spainhouer told The Christian Chronicle, his voice choking with emotion. “There was nothing left.”

Spainhouer — a longtime member of The Branch Church of Christ in the Dallas area — checked another victim, a man, for a pulse.

Again, nothing.

As a U.S. Army captain, Spainhouer trained for combat. But he never dreamed he’d experience such bloodshed in the bustling shopping center a few miles from his home.

He talks to Editor-in-Chief Bobby Ross Jr. about his experience helping and how he’s leaning on God in the aftermath.

Nine killed, counting the gunman.

Seven wounded.

Hundreds traumatized by what they experienced while simply trying to shop or eat and enjoy a leisurely weekend afternoon.

In other words, more of the same in America, where mass shootings have become a way of life — and too much death.

Have we had enough?

Read Bobby Ross Jr.’s Inside Story column.

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• Prayer and protest: Nation’s latest mass shooting highlights competing messages

• ‘God, we come with broken hearts’: Church grapples with mass shooting in its ‘back yard’

“We must first understand that people with mental illness are people created in God’s image. We have to move past the idea that Christians can expect an easy, pain-free life.”

Read Cheryl Mann Bacon’s editorial.

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“Tucked away in the nostalgic memories of my childhood are church homecomings of the 1980s and ’90s. When I close my eyes, I can feel the waving of funeral fans seeking relief from the Texas heat. I can vividly hear, ‘That’s the one,’ before every choir begins its song. I can smell the fried chicken predestined for Styrofoam plates.

“And I can see Ruth Wyrick.”

Read the tribute by Taneise Perry.

The international newspaper received 19 national awards for journalistic excellence during 2022.

Read the full story.