From Jay Reeves, Associated Press
VESTAVIA HILLS, Alabama – A third elderly church member who was shot dead when a man pulled out a gun during a cooking dinner has died, police said Friday.
The 84-year-old woman died hours after she was rushed to hospital after a shooting Thursday night at St Stephen’s Episcopal Church in suburban Birmingham, Vestavia Hills. The suspect, a 71-year-old man, was subdued and detained by a person present at the dinner until police arrived, rescuing the flock from further violence, police captain Shane Ware said.
“It was extremely important to save lives,” Weir told a news conference. “I think the person who subdued the suspect was a hero.
Ware said the suspect and all three victims were white.
The woman, who died on Friday, has not been identified immediately. Vestavia Hills police said in a Facebook post that her name was being kept because her family had requested confidentiality.
Walter Bartlett Rainey, 84, of nearby Irondale, was killed at church, and Sarah Yeager, 75, of Pelham died shortly after she was taken to hospital Thursday.
Rainey’s family said in a statement on Friday that it was hard to believe he had been killed in one of his favorite places, a church that “welcomes everyone with love” while attending dinner with his wife of 61 years.
“We are all grateful that she was spared and that he died in her arms as she muttered words of comfort and love in his ears,” said a statement from Rainey’s daughter, Melinda Rainey Thompson.
“We are proud that in his last action on earth, he extended the hand of community and friendship to a stranger, regardless of the outcome,” Rainey’s family said.
Police are still investigating what motivated the suspect, who occasionally attended church services, Ware said. He said the man’s name was kept until the prosecutor’s office formally charged him with murder.
The event was a “Boomers Potluck” gathering at the church, according to messages posted on the church’s Facebook page by the Rev. John Burrus, the pastor. He said he was in Greece on a pilgrimage with a group of members and was trying to return to Alabama.
Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry told reporters that his “cohesive, resilient, loving community” was shaken by “this senseless act of violence.” The Bedroom Community is one of the wealthiest cities in Alabama, home to many businessmen, doctors and lawyers working in nearby Birmingham. Vestavia Hills is famous for its first-class schools and family suburban lifestyle. There are nearly 40,000 inhabitants, most of whom are white.
Rev. Rebecca Bridges, the church’s assistant rector, runs an online prayer service on the church’s Facebook page on Friday morning. She prayed not only for the victims and members of the church who witnessed the shooting, but also “for the person who carried out the shooting.”
“We pray you work in this man’s heart,” Bridges said. “And we pray that you will help us forgive.”
Bridges, who is currently in London, hinted at other recent mass shootings as she prayed to elected officials in Washington and Alabama “to see what happened in St. Stevens, Uwalde and Buffalo and so many other places and their hearts to be change, minds will be opened. “
“And that our culture will change and that our laws will change in ways that will protect us all,” she added.
There were several shootings in May and June, beginning with a racist attack on May 14 that killed 10 blacks at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The following week, a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uwalde, Texas.
Thursday’s shooting came just over a month after one man was killed and five were injured when a man opened fire on Taiwanese parishioners at a church in Southern California. That comes nearly seven years to the day after an outspoken supporter of white supremacy killed nine people while studying the Bible at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
FBI agents, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives joined investigators at the scene, which was cordoned off on Friday with yellow police tape as police vehicles with flashing lights blocked the road to.
Thousands gathered in the United States and at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to renew calls for tighter gun control. Survivors of mass shootings and other incidents of gun violence lobbied lawmakers and testified on Capitol Hill earlier this month.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statement late Thursday lamenting what she called the shocking and tragic loss of life. Although she said she was glad to hear that the suspect was in custody, she wrote: “This should never happen – in a church, in a shop, in the city or anywhere.
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