NNA - A lone suspect fired on a small group meeting at a suburban church near one of Alabama's major cities Thursday evening, fatally wounding two people and injuring a third before being taken into custody, authorities said.

The attack occurred at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, Police Capt. Shane Ware said. He said officers rushed to the church after dispatchers got a call reporting an active shooter at the church at 6:22 p.m.

“From what we've gathered from the circumstances of this evening, a lone suspect entered a small church group meeting and began shooting. Three people were shot. Two people are deceased. One person is being treated for an unknown injury at a local hospital," Ware said at a late Thursday news briefing.

He added that a suspect was in custody and that there was “no threat to the community at this time."

At an earlier briefing, Ware had initially said one person died and two others wounded in the shooting had been hospitalized.

Meanwhile, police declined to identify the suspect or the victims or provide further details of the attack, adding another briefing was planned Friday.

The FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives dispatched agents to the scene. Investigators remained 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. Nearby, people huddled and prayed.

The Rev. Kelley Hudlow, an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Alabama, told broadcast outlet WBRC that the church and the community at large were stunned by the shooting.—AP

=============R.H.