Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputies have responded to 13 calls in the past three years to the home of a man accused of shooting three people last week at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.
However, most, if not all, of these calls for service seem to have been initiated by Robert Findley Smith himself.
Smith, 70, is accused of killing Walter “Bart” Rainey, 84, of Irondale; Sarah Yeager, 75, of Pelham; and Jane Pounds, 84, of Hoover. The charge against Smith is serious because two or more people were killed in the shooting.
Smith, described by police as a “lone suspect”, was detained after police were called at 6:22 p.m. Thursday to an active church gunman.
The shooting took place during a Boomers Potluck dinner that began at 5 p.m. There were about 25 people at the dinner in the parish hall.
Smith sat alone and a longtime member of the church 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 introduced himself to the victim Rainey only as “Mr. n. Smith ”and refused to join them.
He then pulled out a gun and shot three people.
Jim Musgrove, a member of the church, hits the shooter with a chair and fights his gun.
Smith had previously visited St. Stevens. The motive for the shooting has not been revealed.
See the full coverage of the photos of Vestavia Hills Church here.
Smith lives near the Kahaba Heights, and police blocked his way for much of Friday afternoon while conducting a search warrant at his home in Sicard Hollow.
Police searched the home of Robert Findley Smith’s Sicard Hollow Road on Friday, June 17, 2022 (Carol Robinson)
Public records show that Smith is a licensed ATF firearms dealer, with a business called Original Magazines 2 on 4128 Sicard Hollow Road, which is also his home address.
The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms issued a warning letter to Smith, the most serious action possible, on February 7, 2018, following an “on-site investigation … compliance” at Smith’s residence at 4128 Sicard Hollow Road in Birmingham , according to press reports for American arms dealers and manufacturers.
Smith has not recorded the sale or other disposition of firearms in the required seven days, according to an ATF schedule, and he could not find the firearms listed in his inventory.
Authorities have not revealed a motive for the shooting, and court records do not list any previous violent crimes against Smith. He received DUI in 2016 and went to driving school.
He pleaded guilty and received a $ 465 fine from DUI in Chattanooga in a November 2005 case in which he was also charged with possession of a gun while intoxicated. This charge was dropped.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputies have responded to 13 calls in three years to church shooting suspect Robert Findley Smith, mostly at his request. (Carol Robinson)
Radio communications from the police during the active shooting showed that the police were aware of the suspect, knew where he lived and what he was driving.
Vestavia Hills Police Captain Shane Ware said last week that he could not yet comment on any previous possible involvement with the suspect. Vestavia Hills police rejected AL.com’s request for 911 calls to the shooting, saying they were part of an ongoing investigation.
However, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a request for calls to Smith’s home.
Deputies responded to his home 13 times between 2019 and 2022, the last time on April 11. Details of the calls are not available and no incident has been reported.
In the last three years, there have been two medical calls, five incidents of “investigation of a complaint”, three requests for additional patrols at his home, two reports of a suspicious person or vehicle and one incident of criminal accidents.
Smith remains unsecured in Jefferson County Jail. It was not immediately clear when he would first appear in court or whether there was a lawyer to speak on his behalf.
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