A full-time missionary serving for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Alabama Birmingham Mission is hospitalized in serious but stable condition after he was shot multiple times in a Birmingham-area meetinghouse Friday evening, Dec. 3.
Elder Michael Fauber 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 when the shooting occurred, according to a Saturday, Dec. 4, statement by Sam Penrod, Church spokesman.
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 and the shooter then reportedly fled.
According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, deputies were called to the 2700 block of Altadena Road in unincorporated Jefferson County, to investigate shots fired.
Upon arrival, they discovered that a male entered the gymnasium at that location, where a group of teenagers was playing basketball and fired shots.
WBMA, an ABC-affiliated television network in Alabama, reported that Deputy Chief David Agee said an unknown man shot at the teens unprovoked after playing basketball with the group.
Elder Fauber was taken to UAB Hospital in Birmingham and has undergone surgery. His parents are arriving at the hospital this afternoon, Penrod said.
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 of the missionaries and others who are impacted by this senseless act of violence,” Penrod said.
