UPDATE 12/4: VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. (WIAT) — The victim in a shooting at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Friday night has been identified as 18-year-old Michael Fauber, of Dayton, Ohio, according to an official statement from Sam Penrod, a spokesman with the church.
According to the statement, Fauber was taken to UAB Hospital and underwent surgery. He remains in “serious but stable condition.”
Police are still searching for the shooter.
Read the full statement below:
“A missionary serving in the Alabama Birmingham Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is hospitalized in serious but stable condition after he was shot multiple times on Friday evening, December 3, 2021.
Elder Michael Fauber, 18, of Dayton, Ohio, was in the Birmingham Stake Center in Vestavia Hills with two other missionaries and a group of people interested in learning more about the Church. A weekly athletic activity was being held and basketball was being played in the cultural hall. At approximately 8:30 p.m., Elder Fauber spoke with an unknown individual who came into the building during the activity. A few moments later, Elder Fauber was shot multiple times. The shooter then fled.
Elder Fauber was taken to UAB Hospital in Birmingham and has undergone surgery. His parents are arriving to the hospital this afternoon. Other missionaries in the building were not physically hurt but are receiving counseling. The Church is cooperating with law enforcement and is awaiting additional details from investigators.
Our prayers are with this missionary, his family and all the missionaries and others impacted by this senseless act of violence.”
Sam Penrod, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Stay with CBS 42 as this is a developing story.
PREVIOUS 12/3: A teenager was shot inside a Vestavia Hills church gymnasium on Friday night.
Police and other first responders responded to calls of a shooting at the Church of the Latter-Day Saints on Altadena Road around 8:30 p.m., according to Sgt. Joni Money with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
An 18-year-old was shot and has been transported to UAB, Money said. The teen’s is expected to survive, police have said.
Deputy Chief David Agee said at a press conference that a man described to be in his mid-20s played a few games of basketball with teens who he did not know in the gym before he began shooting.
Agee said at this time the shooting appeared to be “unprovoked.”
Police are still searching for the man, who Agee said should be considered armed and dangerous.
Stay with CBS 42 as this story is developing.
