Gunman kills 3 seniors over potluck dinner at church

VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. (AP) — The 71-year-old visitor had previously attended some services at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church before police say he showed up for a potluck dinner, pulled a handgun and fatally shot three of the elderly participants, one of whom died in his wife’s arms as she whispered words of love in his ear.

Police said church members were spared further violence Thursday evening when someone at the dinner subdued the gunman and held him until police arrived. The suspect was in custody Friday while prosecutors prepared warrants to charge him with murder.

The baffling violence in a wealthy suburb outside Birmingham left victims’ families in disbelief, stunned a community known for its family-centered lifestyle and deepened unease in a nation still reeling from recent slaughter wrought by gunmen who attacked a Texas school, a New York grocery store and another church in California.

Two of the Alabama shooting victims were 84; the third, 75. They had gathered with other church members for a “Boomers Potluck.” St. Stephen’s was Walter Barlett Rainey’s favorite place, a church that “welcomes everyone with love,” according to his family. They said in a statement Friday that it was hard to believe he was killed attending a church dinner with his wife of six decades.

“We are all grateful that she was spared and that he died in her arms while she murmured words of comfort and love into his ears,” said the statement provided by the 84-year-old Rainey’s daughter, Melinda Rainey Thompson.

“We are proud that in his last act on earth, he extended the hand of community and fellowship to a stranger, regardless of the outcome,” Rainey’s family said.