Alabama church shooter gets life in prison after committing triple murder
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A church member restrained Robert Findlay Smith, hit him with a chair and held him until officers arrived, however due to gunfire three people were killed on June 16, 2022
Nearly nine months after an Alabama grand jury indicted Robert Findlay Smith on capital murder charges for the shooting deaths of three people at a church dinner party, he was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole.
Robert Findlay Smith, 71, pleaded guilty to capital murder and waived his right to appeal, charged in the June 16, 2022 shootings of Walter “Bart” Rainey, 84, of Irondale; Sarah Yeager, 75, of Pelham; and Jane Pounds, 84, of Hoover.
According to authorities, police responded June 16 to a report of an active shooter at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, an affluent suburb of Birmingham.
BREAKING: Robert Findlay Smith was sentenced to life without parole. https://t.co/PUQzWi2fWb
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Smith was sitting alone, and a former church member approached him and invited him to sit at a table, said the Rev. Doug Carpenter, who founded the church in 1973 and retired in 2005. He identified himself to victim Rainey only as “Mr. Smith” and refused to join them.
Smith then pulled out a handgun and shot three people, according to authorities. Jim Musgrove, a member of the church, hit the shooter with a chair, taking his gun.
Rainey was pronounced dead at the scene. Yeager and Pounds were taken to a hospital where they later died.
Defense attorney Emory Anthony apologized on Smith's behalf, saying, “We are very grateful to the families of each of these victims for agreeing to allow her to plead life. She could have been facing the death penalty. So they didn't just talk about being Christians, they acted like Christians. I know it's painful for each of the family members, but we say thank you to each of them.”