Police: 3rd victim in church shooting dies
VESTAVIA HILLS, ALA. — The third victim of a church shooting in Alabama has died, police said Friday.
The 84-year-old woman died at a hospital a day after a gunman opened fire with a handgun Thursday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, the police department said in a Facebook post. They did not release her identity.
The suspect, a 71-yearold man, also fatally shot two other elderly people during a potluck dinner at the church where he occasionally attended services, police said Friday at a news conference. Walter Rainey, 84, of nearby Irondale was killed at the church and Sarah Yeager, 75, of Pelham died after being taken to a hospital, police said.
The suspect was subdued and held by an attendee of the event until police arrived, sparing the congregation from further violence at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, police Capt. Shane
Ware said.
“It was extremely critical in saving lives,” Ware said. “The person that subdued the suspect, in my opinion, was a hero.”
Ware 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.
He said the suspect and the victims were all white.
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.
Police are still trying to determine the shooter’s motive, Ware said.