The shooting took place at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama.
QUICK FACTS:
- A gunman opened fire at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama on Thursday evening around 6:20 pm.
- The shooting left two dead and another wounded before the gunman was stopped and taken into custody.
- The deadly event took place during a “Boomer Potluck” event at a hall in the church, and police indicated there was only one gunman.
- The victims and the suspect have not yet been identified, though one person previously thought to have survived the attack is said to have died at the hospital.
- Vestiva Hills is a suburb of Birmingham in the Central Alabama area.
OFFICIALS’ RESPONSE TO THE SHOOTING:
- “The suspect involved in this event is in custody,” Vestavia Hills Police Department Capt. Shane Ware said at the scene. “We know of no immediate threat to either the community of Vestavia Hills or the neighboring community of Mountain Brook.”
- Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey released a statement following the shooting, writing: “As we are learning about the shocking and tragic loss of a life at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia, we want to offer our prayers for the victim’s family, the injured and the entire church community. I am glad to hear the shooter is in custody. This should never happen – in a church, in a store, in the city or anywhere.”
BACKGROUND:
- Vestavia Hills church shooting comes on the heels of several other shootings highlighted by the mainstream media, including one in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and another at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
- The devastating events also come in the last weeks of the Supreme Court’s session, leaving them with a deadline to hear a major gun control case thought important to protecting the Second Amendment.
