SUTHERLAND SPRING, Texas -- Crews have started to tear down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building after some families had sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history.

The demolition began Monday after a judge last month cleared the way for First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs to tear down the sanctuary where the attack took place.

The church until now had kept the sanctuary as a memorial. Members of First Baptist then voted in 2021 to tear down the building over the protests of some in the small community.

Authorities put the number of dead in the Nov. 5, 2017, shooting at 26 people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.

Stengle reported from Dallas.