A shooting at a church in a suburb of one of Alabama's major cities left one person dead and two others wounded Thursday evening, police said, adding a suspect was taken into custody.
The shooting occurred at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, Vestavia Hills Police Capt. Shane Ware said at a briefing. He said multiple law enforcement officers rushed to the site after dispatchers received a call of an active shooter at 6:22 p.m.
He said one person was dead and two others were wounded in the shooting and had been hospitalized. A suspect was in custody, but Ware declined to identify the person or the victims or describe how events unfolded.
Numerous law enforcement agents, along with emergency crews, were at the scene past night fall and the emergency vehicles with lights flashing blocked the road to the site. Yellow police crime scene tape was quickly put up.
The Rev. Kelley Hudlow, an Episcopal priest in the Alabama diocese, told broadcast outlet WBRC that the church and the community were stunned by the shooting.
"It is shocking. Saint Stephen's is a community built on love and prayers," she said in a live interview with the TV station. "People of all faiths are coming together to pray for healing ... for those in the hospital."
She added that the church was receiving messages from people all over the United States and the world who were "praying for us tonight. We need everybody out there. Pray, think, meditate and send love to this community because we are going to need all of it."
The church's website had listed a "Boomers Potluck" being held Thursday night. "There will be no program, simply eat and have time for fellowship," the flyer reads.
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