Gunman, 70, kills 3 senior citizens during potluck dinner at Alabama church
- Police say the suspect showed up for the dinner, pulled out a handgun and fatally shot three of the elderly participants, one of whom died in his wife’s arms
- The suspect, Robert Findlay Smith, was charged with capital murder on Friday, the Jefferson County district attorney announced
A 70-year-old gunman in Alabama, US has killed three senior citizens at a church potluck dinner.
The shooter had previously attended some services at St Stephen’s Episcopal Church before police say he showed up for a potluck dinner, pulled out a handgun and fatally shot three of the elderly participants, one of whom died in his wife’s arms.
Church members were spared further violence on Thursday evening when one of them rushed the gunman, struck him with a chair and held him until police arrived, a former pastor said. The suspect, Robert Findlay Smith, was charged with capital murder on Friday, the Jefferson County district attorney announced.
The baffling violence in a wealthy suburb of Birmingham stunned a community known for its family-centred lifestyle. It also deepened the unease in a nation still reeling from recent slaughter wrought by gunmen who attacked a Texas school, a New York supermarket and another church in California.
“Why would a guy who’s been around for a while suddenly decide he would go to a supper and kill somebody?” said the Reverend Doug Carpenter, St Stephen’s pastor for three decades before he retired in 2005. “It doesn’t make sense.”
All three shooting victims were members attending a monthly dinner at the church, said Carpenter, who still attends Sunday services there but was not present on Thursday night. A Facebook post referred to the gathering as a “Boomers Potluck.”
Carpenter said one victim’s wife and other witnesses recounted what had happened. They said a man who introduced himself only as “Mr Smith” sat at a table by himself – as he had done while visiting a previous church dinner.