May 18, 2024
VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. (AP) — A 71-year-old man fatally shot two elderly people and wounded a third with a handgun during a potluck dinner at an Alabama church where he occasionally attended services, police said Friday.
The suspect was subdued and held by an attendee of the event until police arrived Thursday evening, sparing the congregation from further violence at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, police Capt. Shane Ware said.
“It was extremely critical in saving lives,” Ware told a news conference. “The person that subdued the suspect, in my opinion, was a hero.”
Ware did not give a motive for the shootings. He also didn't identify the suspect, whom police took into custody at the church. He said the man's name was being withheld until prosecutors formally charge the man with capital murder.
Walter Rainey, 84, of nearby Irondale was killed at the church and Sarah Yeager, 75, of Pelham died after being taken to a hospital. The third victim, an 84-year-old woman, remained hospitalized, Ware said.
The event was a “Boomers Potluck” gathering inside the church, according to messages posted on the church’s Facebook page by pastor the Rev. John Burruss. He said he was in Greece on a pilgrimage with a group of members and trying to get back to Alabama.
Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry praised the police response, saying officers “handled this crisis in an exemplary manner.” He said his “close-knit, resilient, loving community” of 39,000 had been rocked by “this senseless act of violence.”
The Rev. Rebecca Bridges, the church’s associate rector, led an online prayer service on the church's Facebook page Friday morning. She prayed not only for the victims and church members who witnessed the shooting, but also “for the person who perpetrated the shooting.”
“We pray that you will work in that person’s heart,” Bridges said. “And we pray that you will help us to forgive.”
Agents with the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives joined investigators at the scene, which remained cordoned off Friday with yellow police tape as police vehicles with flashing lights blocked the route to the church.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statement late Thursday lamenting what she called the shocking and tragic loss of life. Although she said she was glad to hear the suspect was in custody, she wrote: “This should never happen — in a church, in a store, in the city or anywhere."
Vestavia Hills is a residential community just southeast of Birmingham, one of Alabama's two most populous cities.
