Page 8 - MIN JUS, 19 JUNE 2015
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U.S. NEWSFriday 19 June 2015
Charleston hate crime investigation. stained sweatshirt he had
Shooting President Barack Obama, been wearing while play-
who personally knew the ing Xbox videogames in
Continued from front slain pastor, state Sen. their home.
Clementa Pinckney, said “I don’t know what was
JEFFREY COLLINS Charleston, S.C., shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof is escorted these shootings have to going through his head,”
RUSS BYNUM from the Cleveland County Courthouse in Shelby, N.C., Thurs- stop. Konzny said. “He was a re-
Associated Press day, June 18, 2015. Roof is a suspect in the shooting of several “At some point, we as a ally sweet kid. He was quiet.
CHARLESTON, South Caro- people Wednesday night at the historic The Emanuel African country will have to reckon He only had a few friends.”
lina (AP) — A white man Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. with the fact that this type But Roof had been to jail:
who joined a prayer meet- of mass violence does not court records show a pend-
ing inside a historic black (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) happen in other advanced ing misdemeanor drug case
church and then fatally countries,” Obama said. and a past misdemeanor
shot nine people was cap- or Joseph P. Riley Jr. called The Emanuel African Meth- Pinckney, 41, was a married trespassing charge. And
tured without resistance it “pure, pure concentrat- odist Episcopal Church, father of two who spent 19 he proudly displayed the
Thursday after an all-night ed evil.” Stunned commu- and Attorney General Lo- years in the South Carolina flags of defeated white-
manhunt, police said. nity leaders and politicians retta Lynch said the Justice legislature. He became the ruled regimes, posing with
Dylann Storm Roof, 21, condemned the attack on Department has begun a youngest member of the a Confederate flags plate
spent nearly an hour inside House when he was first on his car and wearing a
the church Wednesday elected as a Democrat at jacket with stitched-on flag
night before killing six wom- 23. patches from Rhodesia,
en and three men, includ- “He had a core not many which is now black-led Zim-
ing the pastor, Charleston of us have,” said Sen. Vin- babwe, and apartheid-era
Police Chief Greg Mullen cent Sheheen, who sat South Africa.
said. A citizen spotted his beside Pinckney in the Sen- Meek said they had been
car in North Carolina, near- ate. “I think of the irony that best friends in middle
ly four hours away. the most gentle of the 46 school, then lost touch
The chief wouldn’t discuss of us — the best of the 46 for years until Roof reap-
a motive. Charleston May- of us in this chamber — is peared a few weeks ago.
the one who lost his life.” “All the sudden out of the
The other victims were blue, he started talking
identified as Cynthia Hurd, about race. He started talk-
54; Tywanza Sanders, 26; ing about Trayvon Martin,”
the Rev. Sharonda Single- Meek told The Associated
ton, 45; Myra Thompson, Press Thursday after he was
59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie questioned by authorities.
Jackson, 87; the Rev. Dan- “He said blacks were taking
iel Simmons Sr., 74; and De- over the world. Someone
Payne Doctor, 49. needed to do something
The shootings took out about it for the white race.
the heart of a community He said he wanted segre-
— civic leaders including gation between whites and
three pastors, a regional li- blacks. I said, ‘that’s not
brary manager, a college the way it should be.’ But
enrollment counselor, and he kept talking about it.”
a high school track coach The shooting evoked pain-
— and left the historic ful memories of other at-
church with just one living tacks. Black churches were
minister. bombed in the 1960s when
“Immediately, my heart they served as organiz-
started to sink, because I ing hubs for the Civil Rights
knew that this was going movement, and burned by
to mean a forever impact arsons across the South in
on many, many people,” the 1990s. Others survived
Charleston County Coro- shooting sprees.
ner Rae Wooten said. This particular congrega-
Wooten said autopsies tion, which formed in 1816,
would be conducted over has its own grim history: A
the next several days and founder, Denmark Vesey,
did not have specific infor- was hanged after trying to
mation on how many times organize a slave revolt in
the victims were shot or the 1822, and white landown-
locations of their injuries. ers burned the church in re-
Roof waived extradition venge, leaving parishioners
from North Carolina Thurs- to worship underground
day and was taken to a until after the Civil War.
waiting police car wear- This shooting “should be a
ing a bulletproof vest, with warning to us all that we
shackles on his feet and his do have a problem in our
hands cuffed behind his society,” said state Rep.
back. Wendell Gilliard, a Demo-
Roof’s childhood friend, crat whose district includes
Joey Meek, alerted the FBI the church. “There’s a race
after recognizing him in a problem in our country.
surveillance camera im- There’s a gun problem in
age. They recognized the our country. q
