One person was killed and two others were injured in a shooting Thursday evening at a church in a suburb of Alabama’s major cities, police said.
Police Captain Shane Ware said at a briefing that the shooting took place at St Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills. He said officers arrived in Chuch after dispatchers received a call at 6:22 p.m. informing them of an active shooter.
One person was killed and two others were injured in the firing and were immediately admitted to the hospital, he said. One suspect is in custody, Ware said, but he declined to identify the person or victims and describe the events that unfolded.
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“We do not know of any additional threats to the community of Vestavia Hills or the surrounding areas,” Ware told reporters.
The FBI, the US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives and other local police and fire agencies sent officers to the scene. Investigators remained in the wee hours of the night, with yellow police tape from church premises and emergency vehicles with flashing lights blocking the path to the church.
Kelly Hudlow, an episcopal priest in the diocese of Alabama, told broadcast outlet WBRC that churches and communities were shocked by the shooting.
“It is shocking. St. Stephens is a community built on love and prayer and grace and they are going to come together,” she said in a live interview with the station. “People of all faiths come to pray for the hope of healing. coming together.”
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He said the church was receiving helpful messages from people in the United States and around the world. “We need everyone out there. Pray, think, meditate and send love to this community because we’ll need it.”
The church’s website listed “Boomers Potluck” for Thursday night. “There will be no program, just eat and make time for fellowship,” the flyer read.
News outlet al.com said the two injured victims were being treated at UAB Hospital in Birmingham.
It was the latest in a string of deadly shootings that shook the nation. Thousands rallied on the National Mall in the US and Washington, DC on Saturday to renew a push for gun control measures following the recent fatal mass shootings from Buffalo, New York to Uvalde, Texas. Survivors of mass shootings and other incidents of gun violence also lobbied for legislators earlier this month and testified on Capitol Hill.
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