jmdrake
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Gunman was a 71 y/o white male that had attended the church before. Thankfully rather just "hiding", one parishioner. This reminds me of several other recent church shootings where gunmen have been stopped early. At the Taiwanese church shooting in Las Vegas, a Chinese gunman shot one person and wounded 5 before he was wrestled to the ground and the gun was taken from him. At an African church in Nashville, an African gunman was tackled and restrained before he could shoot anybody. It's interesting what the pastor said in that situation.
“I would say that God used me because I felt like I was going to use the back door as an example as going on by trying to go behind him," Ndikumana said in an interview. "And then I felt the feeling that I would go and grab him … and that’s what happened.”
All of this reminds me of what Jesus said:
Matthew 16:25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
If you are going to sit there and cower in a mass shooting more people are likely going to die. If you fight back, gun or no gun, lives are more likely to be saved, yours included. Something else to note. In each of these church shootings the victims and the shooter were the same race. (Well...the Chinese shooter was a different ethnic group than the Taiwanese and the shooting may have been motivated by China/Taiwan tensions, but it certainly had nothing to do with Trump saying "Wuhan coronavirus.") Anyway...enough commentary. Here's the story.
https://nypost.com/2022/06/17/3rd-a...ctim-dies-elderly-suspect-was-hit-with-chair/
“I would say that God used me because I felt like I was going to use the back door as an example as going on by trying to go behind him," Ndikumana said in an interview. "And then I felt the feeling that I would go and grab him … and that’s what happened.”
All of this reminds me of what Jesus said:
Matthew 16:25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
If you are going to sit there and cower in a mass shooting more people are likely going to die. If you fight back, gun or no gun, lives are more likely to be saved, yours included. Something else to note. In each of these church shootings the victims and the shooter were the same race. (Well...the Chinese shooter was a different ethnic group than the Taiwanese and the shooting may have been motivated by China/Taiwan tensions, but it certainly had nothing to do with Trump saying "Wuhan coronavirus.") Anyway...enough commentary. Here's the story.
https://nypost.com/2022/06/17/3rd-a...ctim-dies-elderly-suspect-was-hit-with-chair/
3rd Alabama church shooting victim dies; elderly suspect was tackled by ‘boomer’ with a chair
By Lee Brown
June 17, 2022 3:54pm Updated
located at 3775 Crosshaven Drive.
Update on deadly shooting at Alabama church
Close
MORE ON:
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The gunman who killed three people at an Alabama church’s “Boomers Potluck” dinner was a 71-year-old occasional congregant — whose bloodbath was thwarted by a “hero” attendee, police said Friday.
The geezer gunman — who was not immediately identified — was known to attend services at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in suburban Birmingham, where he struck late Thursday, Vestavia Hills police Capt. Shane Ware said.
After refusing to join around 25 others at the dinner, the killer — calling himself “Mr. Smith” — suddenly pulled out a handgun and shot three elderly attendees, the church’s founding pastor told AL.com.
A church member, Jim Musgrove, then hit the shooter with a chair, pinning him to the floor and wrestling away his gun, the Rev. Doug Carpenter told the local outlet.
Ware said his heroism had been “extremely critical in saving lives.”
“The person that subdued the suspect, in my opinion, was a hero,” he said, without confirming the name.
Police barricade off the area following the shooting that killed two in Birmingham, Alabama.
Police barricade the area after the church shooting in Birmingham, Ala.
Butch Dill/AP
Before being subdued, the gunman shot dead Walter Rainey, 84, and Sarah Yeager, 75, police said. He also hit an 84-year-old woman, who died from her injuries Friday afternoon, the Associated Press reported, adding that her name is being withheld because her family requested privacy.
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The police chief refused to identify the gunman ahead of expected capital murder charges being filed. The gunman and all three victims were white.
Although the suspect was known to have “previously attended services at this church,” the police chief insisted it was too early in the investigation for him to “speculate” on a possible motive.
Despite the police chief’s claim, Carpenter told AL.com that no one at the potluck appeared to know the gunman, who had been invited to join them after sitting alone.
“We’re trying to figure out who he is,” insisted Carpenter, who founded the church in 1973 and retired in 2005.
The current pastor, the Rev. John Burruss, was in Greece on a pilgrimage with a group of members at the time, he said in a Facebook post late Thursday.
Church members console each other after the shooting at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on June 16.
Church members console each other after the shooting at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on June 16.
Butch Dill/AP
People gather for a prayer circle outside of the church after the shooting.
People gather outside the church after the shooting.
Butch Dill/AP
“I am currently working to get home,” he said, saying he was “deeply moved by the radical support of love.”
His associate rector, the Rev. Rebecca Bridges, led an online prayer service Friday morning. She prayed not only for the victims and church members who witnessed the shooting, but also “for the person who perpetrated the shooting.”
“We pray that you will work in that person’s heart,” Bridges said. “And we pray that you will help us to forgive.”
Bridges alluded to other recent mass shootings as she prayed that elected officials in Washington and Alabama “will see what has happened at St. Stephen’s and Uvalde and Buffalo and in so many other places and their hearts will be changed, minds will be opened.”
A police officer walks outside St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
The shooter has yet to be identified.
Jay Reeves/AP
“And that our culture will change and that our laws will change in ways that will protect all of us,” she added.
Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry praised the police response, saying officers “handled this crisis in an exemplary manner.”
He said his “close-knit, resilient, loving community” of 39,000 had been rocked by “this senseless act of violence.”
With Post wires
By Lee Brown
June 17, 2022 3:54pm Updated
located at 3775 Crosshaven Drive.
Update on deadly shooting at Alabama church
Close
MORE ON:
MASS SHOOTINGS
2 dead, 1 injured after gunman opens fire at Alabama church
NYPD gets training from feds for active shooters on subway
Four killed in shooting during birthday celebration at Denny’s in Juarez, Mexico
Judge urges decision on death penalty for accused Buffalo shooter
The gunman who killed three people at an Alabama church’s “Boomers Potluck” dinner was a 71-year-old occasional congregant — whose bloodbath was thwarted by a “hero” attendee, police said Friday.
The geezer gunman — who was not immediately identified — was known to attend services at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in suburban Birmingham, where he struck late Thursday, Vestavia Hills police Capt. Shane Ware said.
After refusing to join around 25 others at the dinner, the killer — calling himself “Mr. Smith” — suddenly pulled out a handgun and shot three elderly attendees, the church’s founding pastor told AL.com.
A church member, Jim Musgrove, then hit the shooter with a chair, pinning him to the floor and wrestling away his gun, the Rev. Doug Carpenter told the local outlet.
Ware said his heroism had been “extremely critical in saving lives.”
“The person that subdued the suspect, in my opinion, was a hero,” he said, without confirming the name.
Police barricade off the area following the shooting that killed two in Birmingham, Alabama.
Police barricade the area after the church shooting in Birmingham, Ala.
Butch Dill/AP
Before being subdued, the gunman shot dead Walter Rainey, 84, and Sarah Yeager, 75, police said. He also hit an 84-year-old woman, who died from her injuries Friday afternoon, the Associated Press reported, adding that her name is being withheld because her family requested privacy.
Keep up with today's most important news
Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update.
Enter your email address
By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
The police chief refused to identify the gunman ahead of expected capital murder charges being filed. The gunman and all three victims were white.
Although the suspect was known to have “previously attended services at this church,” the police chief insisted it was too early in the investigation for him to “speculate” on a possible motive.
Despite the police chief’s claim, Carpenter told AL.com that no one at the potluck appeared to know the gunman, who had been invited to join them after sitting alone.
“We’re trying to figure out who he is,” insisted Carpenter, who founded the church in 1973 and retired in 2005.
The current pastor, the Rev. John Burruss, was in Greece on a pilgrimage with a group of members at the time, he said in a Facebook post late Thursday.
Church members console each other after the shooting at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on June 16.
Church members console each other after the shooting at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on June 16.
Butch Dill/AP
People gather for a prayer circle outside of the church after the shooting.
People gather outside the church after the shooting.
Butch Dill/AP
“I am currently working to get home,” he said, saying he was “deeply moved by the radical support of love.”
His associate rector, the Rev. Rebecca Bridges, led an online prayer service Friday morning. She prayed not only for the victims and church members who witnessed the shooting, but also “for the person who perpetrated the shooting.”
“We pray that you will work in that person’s heart,” Bridges said. “And we pray that you will help us to forgive.”
Bridges alluded to other recent mass shootings as she prayed that elected officials in Washington and Alabama “will see what has happened at St. Stephen’s and Uvalde and Buffalo and in so many other places and their hearts will be changed, minds will be opened.”
A police officer walks outside St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
The shooter has yet to be identified.
Jay Reeves/AP
“And that our culture will change and that our laws will change in ways that will protect all of us,” she added.
Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry praised the police response, saying officers “handled this crisis in an exemplary manner.”
He said his “close-knit, resilient, loving community” of 39,000 had been rocked by “this senseless act of violence.”
With Post wires
