Police said the shooting took place at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills, with multiple law enforcement officers rushing to the site after dispatchers received a call of an active shooter at 6.22 pm local time.

A ‘Boomers Potluck Dinner’ was supposedly being held at the church during the time of the shooting, according to a calendar on the church’s website.

Vestavia Hills Police Captain Shane Ware at a briefing said one person was killed and two others were hospitalised as a result of their injuries.

A suspect remains in custody, but Captain Ware declined to identify the person or the victims. He did not go into further detail about the incident.

“We know of no additional threat to either the community of Vestavia Hills or neighbouring areas,” he said.

Numerous law agencies attended the scene, including the FBI, US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives, as well as other local police and fire agencies.

Investigators remained hours past nightfall, with yellow police tape cordoning the site and emergency vehicles with flashing lights blocking the route to the church.

The Rev. Kelley Hudlow, an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Alabama, told broadcast outlet WBRC the church and wider community were shocked by the shooting.

“It is shocking. Saint Stephen’s is a community built on love and prayers,” she said in a live interview with the TV station.

“People of all faiths are coming together to pray for healing … for those in the hospital.”

She added that the church was receiving messages from all over the United States and the world from people who are “praying for us tonight”.

– AP