Funerals announced for 3 killed at Alabama church dinner

VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. (AP) — Funerals for three people killed by a gunman during a church potluck dinner will be held this week in Alabama. The Rev. John Burruss announced Monday that the funeral services will take place at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, where Walter Bartlett Rainey, Sarah Sharon Yeager and Jane Pounds were fatally shot Thursday night. All three were church members attending a “Boomers Potluck” when a man attending the dinner opened fire with a handgun. Prosecutors have charged 70-year-old Robert Findlay Smith with capital murder for the killings in Vestavia Hills outside Birmingham. Burruss said in a post on the church’s website that funerals for Rainey and Yeager will be held Wednesday, followed by Pounds’ funeral service Thursday.