Pastor Ken Gartly provided comfort and prayer to people in Taber, Alberta yesterday after two students were shot at the town's high school.

Students at W.R. Myers high school had just settled down after lunch when a 14-year-old boy walked in and shot two students, killing one. The shooting comes a week after the shooting tragedy at Columbine high school in Littleton, Colorado.

"We have a son and daughter-in-law in Denver," says Pastor Gartly after an evening service at Taber Evangelical Free Church where worshipers discussed the day's tragic events.

The dead teenager has been identified as Jason Lang, 17. The other victim, Shane Christmas, also 17, had emergency surgery yesterday at Lethbridge Regional Hospital. This morning his condition was reported as fair to serious. The two grade 11 students were said to be best friends.

Eight thousand people live in Taber, which is 300 kilometres southeast of Calgary. Many members of the community are members of the Mormon Church or are evangelical Christians.

Taber was founded at the beginning of the century. It is mainly made up of decendents of the area's early homestead pioneers, of Central European, Polish, Japanese, Dutch and various other racial backgrounds. Many Japanese came in 1943, Polish war veterans in 1947, and many Dutch immigrants came after about 1950. Many native Canadians also live in the region.

"You feel pain for the families, the young fellow who was shot and killed is a son of people we've gotten to know, his father is a pastoral colleague," said Mr. Gartly.

``Our youth pastor spent 45 minutes with the youth group tonight. But we believe it's important to pray and we're certainly praying for those involved.

"We prayed for the family that lost a son, we prayed for a family that has a son in critical condition, we prayed for the fellow responsible and we prayed for ourselves that we can relate to people in a way that can comfort, encourage and help them."

The evening event at the church was a scheduled visit of a choir from Providence College and Seminary in Otterburn, Manitoba. The group is on a tour of Alberta and British Columbia and were unaware of the day's events when they arrived in Taber.

Gartly said he and the group sat down and modified the original program to make it relevant to the shootings at the high school.

"People asked for guidance in what to say to the kids, and one high school girl asked for people to reach out to God."

Police confirmed the gunman was taken into custody by the school resource officer, who is also a member of the Taber Police Service.

1. Who has been identified as Jason Lang, 17?