St Louis, Missouri
Victim of shooting recalled as a ‘lovely soul’

Catholics have paid tribute to a parishioner who was fatally shot last week. Jamie Schmidt, a mother of three, was a customer in a Catholic goods shop when a gunman entered the shop, sexually assaulted two women there and then shot Schmidt. Mourners gathered at a Mass at St Anthony of Padua Church, High Ridge. One, Cathy Gansmann, said she was “a lovely soul, so sweet, so unassuming”. Her husband, Gregg Schmidt, said in a statement posted on Facebook: “Hug your friends and family and tell them you love them every time you get the chance. I didn’t get to say goodbye and that hurts pretty bad.”