Dylann Roof, a white suspect, arrested in killing of nine black people at church bible study in South Carolina
CHARLESTON, S.C.
Law enforcement officials arrested alleged gunman Dylann Roof after a traffic stop in Shelby, North Carolina, about 220 miles (350 km) north of Charleston, said police chief Gregory Mullen.
"This individual committed a tragic, heinous crime last night," Mullen told reporters.
The mass shooting on Wednesday followed months of racially charged protests over killings of black men which have shaken the United States.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said her office was investigating whether to charge Roof with a hate crime motivated by racial or other prejudice. Such crimes typically carry harsher penalties.
"The fact that this took place in a black church obviously raises questions about a dark part of our history," U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters. "We don't have all the facts but we know that, once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which researches U.S. hate groups, said the attack illustrates the dangers that home-grown extremists pose.
"Since 9/11, our country has been fixated on the threat of Jihadi terrorism. But the horrific tragedy at the Emanuel AME reminds us that the threat of homegrown domestic terrorism is very real," the group said in a statement, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
A man who identified himself as Roof's uncle earlier told Reuters Roof's father had recently given him a .45-caliber handgun as a birthday present and that Roof had seemed adrift.
"I don't have any words for it," the uncle, Carson Cowles, 56, said in a telephone interview. "Nobody in my family had seen anything like this coming."
The victims, six females and three males, included Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who was the church's pastor and a Democratic member of the state Senate, according to colleagues.
Roof sat with churchgoers inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church for about an hour on Wednesday before opening fire, Mullen said, adding that police believe Roof acted alone.
Demonstrations have rocked New York, Baltimore, Ferguson, Missouri and other cities following police killings of unarmed black men including Eric Garner, Freddie Gray and Michael Brown.
A white police officer was charged with murder after he shot Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, in April in neighboring North Charleston.
'A LOT OF CONCERN'
The local community reacted with shock and grief after Wednesday's mass shooting.
"This is going to put a lot of concern to every black church when guys have to worry about getting shot in the church," said Tamika Brown while waiting for a noon prayer vigil at an AME church near the site of the shooting.
"They might need security guards, police officers."
Eight victims were found dead in the church, Mullen said, and a ninth died after being taken to hospital. Three people survived the attack. Officials did not immediately identify the other victims.
Roof was charged on two separate occasions earlier this year with a drug offense and trespassing, according to court documents. In a Facebook profile apparently belonging to him, he is pictured wearing a jacket prominently featuring the flags of apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, from when the two African countries were ruled by their white minorities.
Roof's mother, Amy, declined to comment when reached by phone.
"We will be doing no interviews, ever," she said before hanging up.
The shooter told one survivor he would let her live so she could tell others what happened, the president of the Charleston NAACP, Dot Scott, told the local Post and Courier newspaper.
A cousin of Pinckney's, Sylvia Johnson, told MSNBC that a survivor of the shooting told her the gunman reloaded five times during the attack during a Bible-study group. Pinckney tried to talk him out of it, she said.
"He just said, 'I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country," Johnson said.
"It is a very, very sad day in South Carolina, but it is a day that we will get through," Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, told reporters. "Parents are having to explain to their kids how they can go to church and feel safe, and that's not something we ever thought we'd deal with."
FBI reportedly identifies the suspect as 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof:
According to local media reports cited by Reuters, federal investigators have identified the suspected gunman as Dylann Storm Roof.
According to Roof's Facebook page, he lives in Columbia, S.C., and attended White Knoll High School in Lexington.
JUNE 18, 2015
By The Associated Press
8:45 a.m.
A Justice Department spokesman says federal officials are
opening a hate crime investigation into the fatal shooting of nine people at a
historic black church in South Carolina.
The spokesman said Thursday that the Justice Department's
Civil Rights Division, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District
of South Carolina are opening the investigation into the Wednesday night
shooting.
The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity. The official
was not authorized to be quoted by name because the federal investigation has
not been officially announced.
-- Eric Tucker, Associated Press writer in Washington
___
8 a.m.
The city of Charleston has opened an assistance center for
families of the victims of Wednesday night's fatal shooting at a historic black
church.
City spokeswoman Barbara Vaughn says the center will be
based at a hotel and will be staffed by local, state and federal victim
services personnel, as well as a group of Charleston-area chaplains.
Nine people were killed when a gunman opened fire at the
downtown Emanuel AME Church. Police have said there are six female and three
male victims. Officials say names won't be released until families are
notified. But House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford has said state Sen.
Clementa Pinckney was among those killed.
The city's statement on the assistance center asks for
privacy for families of the victims.
___
7:15 a.m.
Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen says the suspect in a
fatal shooting was at a historic black church attending a prayer meeting and
stayed for almost an hour.
Mullen says: "He was in the church about an hour before
the actual deaths."
Mullen gave the details at a Thursday morning news
conference. He also identified the victims of the Wednesday night church
shooting as six females and three males. He says names won't be released until
families are notified.
The suspect is described as a white man thought to be in his
early 20s. Mullen says he's a "very dangerous individual." Mullen
says police don't know if anyone was targeted besides the church itself.
Earlier, Mullen said he had no reason to think the suspect
has left the Charleston area, but is distributing information about him and the
vehicle around the country.
___
7:05 a.m.
Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen says the victims of a
shooting at a historic black church were six females and three males.
At a news conference Thursday, Mullen did not give other
details about the victims. He says names will not be released until families
are notified.
The Wednesday night shooting is being called a hate crime.
The suspect is described as a white man thought to be in his early 20s. Mullen
says the suspect is a "very dangerous individual." Mullen urged
people to call police about the suspect and not pursue him or his vehicle on
their own.
Earlier, Mullen said he had no reason to think the suspect
has left the Charleston area, but is distributing information about the suspect
and the vehicle around the country.
___
6:10 a.m.
Police say they have surveillance video of a possible
suspect and vehicle in the shooting deaths of nine people at a historic black
church in downtown Charleston that's being called a hate crime.
Police Chief Greg Mullen met with reporters early Thursday
to distribute the video. Mullen said he couldn't give a specific make and model
of the vehicle because they could not be certain from the video.
The suspect is described as a white man thought to be in his
early 20s. Mullen said he had no reason to think the suspect has left the
Charleston area, but is distributing information about the suspect and the
vehicle around the country.
Mullen said police consider the shooting a hate crime. The
FBI and state police are helping in the search.
___
3:35 a.m. (EDT)
Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen says the FBI will be
involved in the investigation of a shooting at a historic black church that
killed nine and is being called a hate crime.
Mullen said the FBI would aid the investigation while
speaking at a news conference that was also attended by FBI Special Agent in
Charge David A. Thomas.
House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford says that among those
killed at Emanuel AME Church was the church's pastor, state Sen. Clementa
Pinckney.
Authorities are still searching for the shooter, who's
described as a white male in his early 20s.
___
3 a.m. (EDT)
A South Carolina legislative leader says the church's
pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, is among those killed in a shooting at a
historic black church in downtown Charleston that authorities are calling a
hate crime.
House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford says Pinckney was
killed along with eight others in the Wednesday night shooting at Emanuel AME
Church.
Authorities are still searching for the shooter, who's
described as a white male in his early 20s.
___
1 a.m. (EDT)
Charleston police say nine people have been killed in a
shooting at a historic black church in what authorities intend to investigate
as a hate crime.
Police Chief Greg Mullen says eight people were found dead
Wednesday at Emanuel AME Church and another person died later at the hospital.
Mullen says a prayer meeting was going on at the church at
the time of the shooting.
The shooter, described as a white male, was not yet in
custody.
___
12:45 a.m. (EDT)
Mayor Joseph P. Riley has confirmed to The Associated Press
that police have told him nine are dead in a shooting at a historic black
church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
Riley said he will release more details shortly at a news
conference with Charleston police.
Police were still looking for the suspect in the Wednesday
night shooting at Emanuel AME Church.
__
12:30 a.m. (EDT)
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has responded to the
shooting in downtown Charleston.
"While we do not yet know all of the details, we do
know that we'll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our
places of worship and take the life of another," she said in a statement
early Thursday morning.
Police were still searching for a white male suspect.
___
12:09 a.m. (EDT)
The Post and Courier newspaper reports that Mayor Joe Riley
has confirmed there are fatalities in a shooting that occurred at the site of a
church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
Riley called the Wednesday night shooting "an
unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy."
An Associated Press reporter on the scene said police were
moving members of the media on the site back because of an "imminent"
threat.
GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush has canceled Thursday
events in the area because of the shooting.