WASHINGTON: A "lone suspect" entered an Alabama church potluck dinner and opened fire Thursday evening, killing two people and injuring another,  police said on Friday.

According to reports, police in the city of Vestavia Hills got a call of an active shooter at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church around 6.22 p.m. on Thursday evening. Three persons were shot, according to police chief Shane Ware, who added that one victim died on the scene and two others were being treated at a hospital. A suspect, who has not been identified, has been arrested.

Vestavia Hills is a neighbourhood in Birmingham, Alabama.

According to the latest data from Gun Violence Archive, there have been 267 mass shootings in the United States since the beginning of the year, with more than 20,000 people killed as a result of gun violence.

On June 12, a bipartisan group of senators achieved a small gun-control agreement in the face of public dissatisfaction with government inaction.

The plan includes efforts to prosecute criminals who acquire and sell firearms on the black market, enhance criminal background check requirements for gun buyers under the age of 21, and subsidise mental health services.

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