Two people are killed and one injured after a shooter opens fire at Alabama church

Two people have been shot dead and a third person injured on Thursday evening at a church in Alabama during a ‘Boomers’ Potluck’, police in Vestavia Hills said.

Captain Shane Ware of Vestavia Hills police said the gunman is in custody.

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

The injured person has been taken to Birmingham’s UAB hospital – the only level one trauma center in the state of Alabama.  

‘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

Multiple first responders attended the scene of the attack 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.

She said the congregation were inside the church, when someone came in and started shooting. 

‘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

A prayer circle formed in a parking lot near the church on Thursday night

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People held hands in a prayer circle in Vestavia Hills on Thursday night

On Thursday night well-wishers gathered in the parking lot of the church, holding hands in a prayer circle. 

‘What you are seeing is hope, folks,’ said Jonathan Hardison, WBRC anchor.

‘You are seeing healing, with those folks standing together.’