One person is killed and two injured after gunman opens fire at Alabama church

One person was shot dead and two injured on Thursday evening at a church in Alabama during a ‘Boomers’ Potluck’, police in Vestavia Hills said.

The gunman is in custody.

The church, St Stephen’s Episcopal, in a suburb of Birmingham, was hosting a 5-7pm ‘Boomers Potluck’.

‘At approximately 6:22 PM Central Time the Vestavia Hills Police Department responded to Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church located at 3775 Crosshaven Drive Vestavia Hills, AL on a call of an active shooter,’ the police wrote on Facebook.

‘Multiple law enforcement agencies and fire departments responded to the scene.

‘The VHPD confirms multiple people were shot. The suspect is in custody.’

Police in Vestavia Hills, six miles from downtown Birmingham, Alabama, confirmed that ‘multiple people’ were shot in a church on Thursday evening

The ‘Boomers Potluck’ was advertised on the church website

Rev. Kelley Hudlow with the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama said they did not know how many people were inside the building at the time.

‘There were folks at church. There has been a shooting, and there are folks that have been injured,’ she said.

‘We are working to get more information, to take care of the people who were there..

‘We are praying for healing and safety for all of those who have been impacted and affected.

‘We are praying for everyone involved and we are trying to get as much information about what happened as we can get.’ 

Hudlow said it was ‘a scary thing’. 

She urged the community to ‘do what this community is really good at – and that’s coming together, through prayers and thoughts and anything else.’ 

Kelley Hudlow, a priest with the Episcopal Church of Alabama, said the shooting was ‘scary’ and urged everyone to send prayers