The Vestavia Hills church shooting occurred on June 16, 2022 at 6:22 p.m. local time in
Vestavia Hills, a suburb of
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
. A man entered the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and opened fire during a
potluck
A potluck is a communal gathering where each guest or group contributes a different, often homemade, dish of food to be shared.
Other names for a "potluck" include: potluck dinner, pitch-in, shared lunch, spread, faith supper, carry-in dinner ...
meeting, which the church had previously advertised. Two people were killed at the scene, a third died later in hospital, and the suspect is subsequently in custody. The suspect was a 70 year old Birmingham man named Robert Findlay Smith (born December 23, 1951),
a gun dealer.
Victims
* Sarah Yeager, 75
* Walter Rainey, 84
* Jane Pounds, 84, initially reported injured, died at a local hospital. Her family requested that her name be withheld, but it was made public by the press.
Reactions
Following the shooting, Alabama governor
Kay Ivey
Kay Ellen Ivey (born October 15, 1944) is an American politician serving as the 54th and incumbent governor of Alabama since 2017. Originally a conservative Southern Democrat, Ivey became a member of the Republican Party in 2002. She was the 38th ...
issued a statement saying that the shooting is "shocking and tragic," adding that "this should never happen — in a church, in a store, in the city or anywhere."
During a Sunday morning service on June 19, 2022, the church gathered to honor the members who were shot and killed during the shooting.
See also
*
Gun violence in the United States
Gun violence in the United States results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually, and was the leading cause of death for children 19 and younger in 2020. In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available as of 2021, th ...
*
List of mass shootings in the United States in 2022
This is a list of shootings in the United States that occurred in 2022. Mass shootings are incidents involving several victims of firearm-related violence. The precise inclusion criteria are disputed, and there is no broadly accepted definition. ...
References
{{Reflist
June 2022 crimes in the United States
Attacks on churches in North America
Deaths by firearm in Alabama
2022 in Alabama
2022 active shooter incidents in the United States
Attacks on religious buildings and structures in the United States