Alabama church shooting kills 2, wounds 1; suspect detained
Church members console each other after a shooting at the Saint Stevens Episcopal Church on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Vestavia, Ala.
VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. — A gunman opened fire inside a suburban Alabama church, killing two people and wounding a third at a small group meeting before being taken into custody Thursday, authorities said.
The attack occurred at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, said Police Capt. Shane Ware. He said emergency dispatchers got a call at around 6:20 p.m. reporting an active shooter at the church.
A suspect was detained and the wounded victim was being treated at a hospital, Ware said at a press conference late Thursday. Police declined to identify the suspect or the victims, or provide further details on the attack, and said another briefing was planned Friday.
At an earlier news conference, Ware had said one person was killed and two others hospitalized.
The church’s website listed a “Boomers Potluck” for Thursday night. “There will be no program, simply eat and have time for fellowship,” the flyer read.
Thursday’s shooting took place just over a month after one person was killed and five injured when a man opened fire on Taiwanese parishioners at a church in Southern California. It also comes nearly seven years to the day after an avowed white supremacist killed nine people during Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
In Vestavia Hills, investigators remained at the scene hours past nightfall, with yellow police tape cordoning off the church complex and emergency police and fire vehicles with flashing lights blocking the route to the church. The FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives dispatched agents to the scene.
Nearby, people huddled and prayed.
The Rev. Kelley Hudlow, an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Alabama, told broadcast outlet WBRC the shooting stunned the church and the community at large.
“It is shocking. Saint Stephen’s is a community built on love and prayers and grace and they are going to come together,” she said in a live interview with the station. “People of all faiths are coming together to pray to hope for healing.”
She said supportive messages were coming in from all over the U.S. and the world. “We need everybody out there. Pray, think, meditate and send love to this community because we are going to need all of it,” she said.
There have been several high-profile shootings in May and June, starting with a racist attack on May 14 that killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The following week, a gunman massacred 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
On Saturday thousands of people rallied in the U.S. and at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to renew calls for stricter gun control measures. Survivors of mass shootings and other incidents of gun violence lobbied legislators 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 at the church. Although she said she was glad to hear the suspect was in custody, she wrote: “This should never happen — in a church, in a store, in the city or anywhere.”
Vestavia Hills is a residential community just southeast of Birmingham, one of Alabama’s two most populous cities.
From chess to a medical mystery: Great global reads from 2025 you may have missed
We published hundreds of stories on global health and development each year. Some are ... alas ... a bit underappreciated by readers. We've asked our staff for their favorite overlooked posts of 2025.
The U.S. offers Ukraine a 15-year security guarantee for now, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday the United States is offering his country security guarantees for a period of 15 years as part of a proposed peace plan.
Genre fiction and female authors top U.S. libraries’ most-borrowed lists in 2025
All of the top 10 books borrowed through the public library app Libby were written by women. And Kristin Hannah's The Women was the top checkout in many library systems around the country.
Electric vehicles had a bumpy road in 2025 — and one pleasant surprise
A suite of pro-EV federal policies have been reversed. Well-known vehicles have been discontinued. Sales plummeted. But interest is holding steady.
Why do so many people ring in the new year on Jan. 1?
Much of the world follows the Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, who put the finishing touches on a Roman system that integrated ideas from other cultures.
Teens are having disturbing interactions with chatbots. Here’s how to lower the risks
Teen use of AI chat bots is growing, and psychologists worry it's affecting their social development and mental health. Here's what parents should know to help kids use the technology safely.
