Source: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Getty
UPDATE 11:55 AM EST:
The Charleston Police Department has confirmed that Dylann Roof is in custody. He is being held in Shelby, N.C., about 45 minutes from Charleston.
Stay tuned for further developments.
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UPDATE: 10:05 AM EST
The FBI has identified the gunman who killed nine at Charleston’s historic Emanuel AME church as 21-year-old Dylann Roof of Columbia.
BREAKING: FBI identifies South Carolina church shooter as 21-year-old Dylann Roof of Columbia area: Post and Courier newspaper
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) June 18, 2015
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UPDATE: 9:46 AM EST
According to NBC News, Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of Pastor Clementa Pinckney and feared church shooting victim, spoke to one of the survivors who said the gunman reloaded his weapon five different times.
The gunman, who has not yet been named, also said “I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.”
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UPDATE: 8:38 AM EST
The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has launched a hate crime investigation into the Charleston AME shooting that left nine dead.
JUST IN: DOJ Civil Rights Division, FBI and US Attorney’s Office launch hate crime investigation into Charleston church mass shooting.
— ABC News (@ABC) June 18, 2015
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UPDATE: 7:45 AM EST
The NAACP has released a statement in the wake of the AME shooting that left nine dead in Charleston.
From Cornell William Brooks, NAACP President & CEO:
The NAACP was founded to fight against racial hatred and we are outraged that 106 years later, we are faced today with another mass hate crime. Our heartfelt prayers and soul-deep condolences go out to the families and community of the victims at Charleston’s historic Emanuel AME Church. The senselessly slain parishioners were in a church for Wednesday night bible study. There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture. Today I mourn as an AME minister, as a student and teacher of scripture, as well as a member of the NAACP.
The NAACP South Carolina State Conference and Charleston Branch have been working on the ground—with police and the community to bring this case to a close. We remain vigilant while the local police and FBI investigate this hate crime and bring the shooter to justice.
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UPDATE: Thursday June 18, 2015
Police have confirmed that eight people were killed inside Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church Wednesday night after a gunman described as a 21-year-old White male entered the house of worship, sat through part of a prayer meeting and opened fire.
A ninth victim died at a nearby hospital, Charleston’s Police Chief Greg Mullen said during a morning press conference.
While no information has been released about the victims, House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford said that South Carolina state senator and the church’s pastor, Clementa Pinckney, is among the dead.
The shooting, described by the Washington Post as one of the worst attacks on a place of worship in the nation in decades, is being investigated as a hate crime.
Police are still searching for the suspect, who is said to have attended the prayer meeting for about an hour before shooting his victims. Three people survived the shooting, including a woman the suspect left alive to tell the story and a 5-year-old who played dead when the shooting began.
.@CharlestonPD Chief Mullen says this man is dangerous. Do not approach him. Contact police. #CharlestonShooting pic.twitter.com/iaQROtgVLx
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) June 18, 2015
The fatalities include three males and six females.
“This tragedy that we’re addressing right now is undescribable,” Mullen said. “The law enforcement agencies that are working on this are committed and we will capture this individual.”
According to the Post and Courier, a family assistance center was established for families of the victims. No names have been released as of Thursday morning.
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Police in Charleston, South Carolina are investigating a shooting at a downtown church, USA Today reports.
It’s unclear if there are any fatalities.
The shooting occurred around 9 p.m. at an address that corresponds with the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the site writes. Police say the suspected gunman is still on the loose, the Charleston Post and Courier reports. The suspect is described as a white male, about 21-years-old.
Suspect in shooting on Calhoun St is a w/m approx 21 slender small build wearing a grey sweat shirt blue jeans timberland boots clean shaven — Charleston P.D. (@CharlestonPD) June 18, 2015
Police have yet to release any information about the victims.
Police searching for suspect in shooting at 110 Calhoun
— Charleston P.D. (@CharlestonPD) June 18, 2015
This is a developing story.
SOURCE: USA Today, Twitter | PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter
Watch Roland Martin, NAACP chief Cornell Brooks and NewsOne Now panelist Armstrong Williams and a family member of slain Emanuel AME Pastor Rev. Clementa Pinckney’s discuss the horrific mass shooting below.
Be sure to watch “NewsOne Now” with Roland Martin, weekdays at 9 a.m. EST on TV One.
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