The alleged 70-year-old gunman in a shooting that killed three people in an Alabama church sat alone drinking liquor, rejecting offers to join others gathered for dinner, before the shots shattered the peace of the night , recalled a survivor.
“I felt like I was detached,” said Susan Sallin, 73. Sallin was sitting at the same Potluck Boomers table with the three people killed in Thursday night’s shooting at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama.
The alleged gunman had previously attended church services and some church meetings for people of the baby boomer generation and older, but did not appear to interact much with others, he said. That night he sat at a table alone. While wine was available at the talk, he was drinking what looked like a small bottle of scotch, and he avoided invitations to join others.
“I personally invited him to come sit at our table twice because I wanted him to feel a sense of inclusion, but he didn’t come,” Sallin said. She said a woman, whose husband would be killed moments later in the shooting, “realized that a plate had not been fixed and went upstairs and offered to make her a plate.” He also denied it.
Robert Findlay Smith, 70, is charged with manslaughter in the shooting that killed three people. Walter Bartlett Rainey, 84, Sarah Yeager, 75, of Pelham, and another woman were killed in the shooting. Police did not disclose the name of the third victim, but friends referred to her as Jane.
The meeting was a joyous one as friends, who had not been able to get together so much during the pandemic, chatted about the food they had in front of them that night, their favorite cars, and other cheerful topics. Sallin said he doesn’t remember hearing any heated discussion or conversation before the shot suddenly exploded.
“I heard that loud metallic sound and I thought a metal chair had fallen to the ground. And then there was another sound, and another sound, and I realized it was a gun,” he recalled. “People were diving on the ground. I was diving on the ground. When I got to the ground, I realized that two of my friends sitting at the table with me had been hit.”
Sallin said he crawled across the floor to reach his friends. “I was trying to calm them down and caress them and say,‘ You’re not alone. You are not alone.’ That’s the message I wanted them to get. “
Nearby, Linda Foster Rainey cradled her husband. According to a family statement, “she died in his arms while she whispered words of consolation and love in her ears.”
Sallin said one of the men in the group, who is also in his 70s, was able to subdue the gunman. “I saw him pull the gun out of the man’s hand and hit him in the head with the gun,” he said.
Rev. Doug Carpenter, a pastor of St. Stephen’s for three decades before retiring in 2005, said he understood the man hit the gunman with a folding chair before fighting him on the ground and grabbing his weapon.
“The person who subjected the suspect, in my opinion, was a hero,” Vestavia Hills police captain Shane Ware told reporters at a news conference Friday, saying the act was “extremely critical to saving lives.” “.
The church had been closed for several days as a crime scene, but the congregation returned Sunday for worship services with a message of choosing love over hatred.
The Rev. John Burruss, the rector of St. Stephen, invoked the Christian story of the Last Supper, where Jesus invited the friend who would finally betray him.
“I have no doubt that Bart, Sharon and Jane would invite their Judas over and over again to sit down and share a meal, because they knew the unconditional love of God,” he said, using the first names of the three victims. . per.
“It simply came to our notice then. … They taught us that everyone is welcome at the table, “Burruss said.