A 71-year-old man – who shot dead three elderly people at a church group meeting in Alabama, USA, last Thursday night – was detained by another person at the scene until police arrived, they said. authorities on Friday (17).
The suspect shot dead Walter Rainey, 84, and Sarah Yeager, 75, during a small group dinner at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, outside Birmingham, police said.
The third victim, an 84-year-old woman whose family asked not to be named, died Friday in a hospital, according to Vestavia Hills Police.
The suspect was attending church and was at dinner when he pulled out a gun and started shooting. Someone at the event “overpowered the suspect and held him until police arrived,” said Ware, who said police were called at 6:22 pm.
“The person who stopped him is a hero,” Ware said.
Investigators believe the suspect acted alone and are trying to determine the motive for the crime.
The shooting is the latest at a house of worship in the US and took place on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on Friday.
A mass shooting last month at a church service in Taiwan in Southern California — along with mass shootings at a Texas elementary school and a New York supermarket — brought more political attention to gun violence. A bipartisan group of senators announced an agreement in principle on gun safety legislation that would address mental health resources, school safety and access to firearms.
‘Pillars of our community’, says dean about three victims.
Thursday’s attack happened during a meeting of the church’s “Boomers” group, and the three victims were parishioners, Reverend John Burruss said in a letter to the church community.
“These are the pillars of our community, and I can’t imagine how painful this is for our entire church and the community at large,” wrote Burruss, the church’s dean.
A prayer vigil has been scheduled for late Friday morning at the nearby St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
Former Senator Doug Jones lives in the neighborhood where the church is situated. The shooting is impressive and tragic, he told Nadia Romero of CNN on Friday.
“This shows that no community is immune from this type of gun violence that we see happening across the country. Nobody is immune,” said Jones, a Democrat who represented Alabama from January 2018 to January 2021.
“It was heartbreaking… to be in activities at this church. We live in this neighborhood… 27 years now, and it’s just something that really hits everybody,” he said.
The community needs to be built up in healing through prayer and unity, the Rev. Kelley Hudlow, clergy formation missionary for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, told the CNN WVTM .
“We are praying for healing and safety for all those who have been affected, and also knowing that this is a traumatic thing that has happened to our community, not just our church, but this community here,” Hudlow said. “What we need is for this community to do what’s really good, which is come together to support each other.”
Church members gathered for a prayer circle in Vestavia on Thursday night after the St. Stephen’s shooting.
On Thursday night, church members stood in a circle, holding hands, and praying in a nearby parking lot, the church affiliate said. CNN WBRC
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey sent her condolences.
“I’m glad to hear the shooter is in custody,” Ivey said. “This should never happen – in a church, in a store, in the city or anywhere. We continue to closely monitor the situation.”
Raja Razek, Jade Gordon, Andy Rose and Aya Elamroussi of CNN contributed to this story.
Source: CNN Brasil
