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Charleston church shooting

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"2015 Charleston shooting" redirects here. For the shooting by a North Charleston police officer, see Shooting of Walter Scott.
Charleston church shooting
The steeple of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston
The steeple of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Charleston church shooting is located in South Carolina
Charleston church shooting
Charleston church shooting (South Carolina)
LocationCharleston, South Carolina
Coordinates32°47′14″N 79°55′59″W / 32.78722°N 79.93306°W / 32.78722; -79.93306
DateJune 17, 2015 (2015-06-17)
c. 9:05 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time)
TargetBlack churchgoers
Attack type
Deaths9[1]
Injured1[2]
PerpetratorsDylann Roof
MotiveRacism[3]

On the evening of June 17, 2015, a mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. The church is one of the United States' oldest black churches. The senior pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, a state senator, was among the nine people killed.[4] In the immediate aftermath, police sought a white male, identified as Dylann Roof. He was captured the morning after the attack in Shelby, North Carolina.[5]

The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.[6]

Background

The 199-year-old church played an important role in the state's history, including the slavery era and the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1816 and is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the South, often referred to as "Mother Emanuel".[4][7] It is the oldest historically black congregation south of Baltimore. One of the church's co-founders, Denmark Vesey, tried to start a slave rebellion in Charleston. The plot was discovered on June 17, 1822, and 35 people were executed, including Vesey.[8] The church was burned down in 1822, before being rebuilt in 1834.[9]

Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney had held rallies after the police shooting of Walter Scott on April 4, 2015 and as a state senator he pushed for legislation requiring police wear body cameras.[10] The Charleston church shooting reminded Robert Mickey, a University of Michigan political scientist, of the 1963 bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, where Ku Klux Klan members killed four black girls and injured fourteen.[11]

Details

At around 9:05 p.m. EDT on June 17, 2015, the Charleston Police Department responded to calls of a shooting at Emanuel A.M.E. church.[8] A man described as white, with sandy-blond hair, around 21 years old and 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) in height, wearing a gray sweatshirt and jeans, opened fire on the church during a Bible study attended by Senator Pinckney and then fled.[12][13] A five-year-old child attending the study survived the shooting by pretending to be dead.[14] For nearly an hour prior to the attack, the shooter participated and stayed at the Bible study.[15] Dot Scott, president of the local branch of the NAACP, told CNN she'd heard Roof spared one woman so she could tell other people about the shooting.[16]

Several hours later, a bomb threat was called into the Courtyard by Marriott hotel on Calhoun Street, complicating the investigation and prompting an evacuation of the immediate area.[8][17]

Victims

The victims were black, six women and three men. Eight died at the scene. The ninth, Daniel Simmons, died in the hospital.[13][16] One other person was wounded.[2]

Fatalities

Confirmed fatalities are:[18]

  • Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, 54, a bible study member and public library employee. She was the sister of former North Carolina State Senator Malcom Graham.[19]
  • Susie Jackson, 87, a bible study member
  • Ethel Lee Lance, 70, a 30-year church Sexton
  • Depayne Middleton, a bible study member
  • Clementa C. Pinckney, 41, church pastor and South Carolina State Senator
  • Myra Thompson, 59, a bible study member
  • Tywanza Sanders, 26, a bible study member and 2014 college graduate from Allen University
  • Daniel Simmons, 74, a reverend at the church.
  • Sharonda Singleton, 45, a reverend at the church and track coach for Goose Creek High School

Shooter

The Federal Bureau of Investigation named Dylann Storm Roof (born April 3, 1994 in Columbia, South Carolina), as the suspected killer. One image on his Facebook page shows him in a jacket decorated with the flags of two former white supremacist regimes: apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia - symbols of white supremacy that have been adopted as emblems by modern-day white supremacists.[20][21][22]

Roof has a prior arrest record for drug possession and trespassing.[23][24]

Investigation

A man matching the description of the attacker was initially detained outside a nearby convenience store but was released after police determined he was not the perpetrator.[8] The attack is being treated as a hate crime by police, and officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were called in to assist in the investigation and manhunt.[13]

Reactions

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley released a statement regarding the attack, saying, "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. Please join us in lifting up the victims and their families with our love and prayers."[25] Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. denounced the attack and said, "Of all cities, in Charleston, to have a horrible hateful person go into the church and kill people there to pray and worship with each other is something that is beyond any comprehension and is not explained. We are going to put our arms around that church and that church family."

Senator Rand Paul, speaking at the opening luncheon of the Faith & Freedom Coalition's annual Washington, D.C. conference, went out of his way to address the massacre. "What kind of person goes into church and shoots nine people?" Paul lamented. "There's a sickness in our country. There's something terribly wrong. But it isn't going to be fixed by your government. It's people straying away, it's people not understanding where salvation comes from. I think if we understand that, we'll have better expectations of what to expect from government." Paul's comments contrast with those of President Barack Obama, who called for stricter gun control in a special press conference. America's founders had understood that "liberty without virtue" was impossible, Paul recalled. He said he believes that wisdom has been lost.[26]

Hillary Clinton, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, campaigned earlier that day in Charleston prior to the shooting. She attended a fundraiser at a home less than half a mile (800 m) away and left before the shooting occurred. Pinckney was at the Clinton fundraiser earlier in the day. "Heartbreaking news from Charleston - my thoughts and prayers are with you all," Clinton posted on Twitter.[27][28][29]

2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush postponed campaign events in Charleston scheduled for June 18. A Bush spokesperson said, "Governor Bush's thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families affected by this tragedy".[1]

President Barack Obama held a press conference on June 18, "to express [my] deep sorrow over the senseless murders that took place last night. Michelle and I know several members of Emanuel AME Church. We knew their pastor, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who, along with eight others, gathered in prayer and fellowship and was murdered last night. And to say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families, and their community doesn’t say enough to convey the heartache and the sadness and the anger that we feel." He also made several points about the gun control debate in the United States, saying, "We don’t have all the facts, but we do 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."[30]

References

  1. ^ a b Bever, Lindsey; Costa, Robert (June 17, 2015). "9 dead in shooting at historic Charleston African American church. Police chief calls it 'hate crime.'". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 18, 2015. Cite error: The named reference "WashingtonPost-Shooting-2015" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "Charleston church shooting: First picture of 'gunman' on the run after nine people shot dead". Daily Mirror. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  3. ^ http://gawker.com/charleston-suspects-uncle-dylann-roof-got-a-gun-for-hi-1712235754
  4. ^ a b Payne, Ed (June 18, 2015). "Charleston church shooting: Multiple fatalities in South Carolina, source says". CNN. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  5. ^ "Charleston church shooting suspect Dylann Roof in custody in NC". WIS. WorldNow and WISTV. June 18, 2015.
  6. ^ Live 5 News Web Staff (June 18, 2015). "Official: SC Sen. Clementa Pinckney among 9 dead in Charleston church shooting". Live5News WCSC-TV. Retrieved June 18, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Pinckney, Reverend Honorable Clementa C. (February 20, 2015). "Civil Rights Ride 2013 – Clementa C. Pinckney, SC Senate, Pastor Mother Emanuel A.M.E." Mullikin Law Firm. Retrieved June 18, 2015. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  8. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference PostCourier-NineShot-2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "US: at least 9 killed in Charleston church massacre". Euronews. June 16, 2015.
  10. ^ Cleary, Tom (June 18, 2015). "Clementa Pinckney Dead: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  11. ^ "For Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, shooting is another painful chapter in rich history", by Sarah Kaplan, The Washington Post
  12. ^ McLeod, Harriet (June 17, 2015). "Gunman at large after killing nine at black South Carolina church". Yahoo! News. Reuters. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  13. ^ a b c "Everything We Know About the Charleston Shooting". TIME. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  14. ^ "Charleston shooting: Five-year-old child who 'played dead' among survivors in South Carolina". The Independent. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  15. ^ "Pastor, 8 others, fatally shot at church in Charleston, SC". MSN. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  16. ^ a b "Who is the Charleston church shooting suspect?". CNN.com. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  17. ^ "Charleston church shooting: police release image of suspect - latest updates". Guardian. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  18. ^ "Charleston Shooting Victims Identified". ABC News. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  19. ^ [1]
  20. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/us/charleston-church-shooting.html
  21. ^ On Facebook, Dylann Roof, Charleston Suspect, Wears Symbols of White Supremacy
  22. ^ "Everything Known About Charleston Church Shooting Suspect Dylann Roff". The Daily Beast. June 18, 2015.
  23. ^ Dylann Storm Roof arrested in North Carolina, KFOR
  24. ^ Old, Jason. "Police: Dylann Roof arrested for trespassing, drug possession at Columbiana Centre". WISTV.com. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  25. ^ "9 people killed in shooting at black church in Charleston, S.C." CBC. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  26. ^ "Rand Paul on Charleston Shooting". Bloomberg. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  27. ^ "Update: 6 females, 3 males were killed at church (+ video)". The State. June 17, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference NBCNews-Shooting-2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Horowitz, Jason; Corasaniti, Nick; Southall, Ashley (June 18, 2015). "Nine Killed in Shooting at Black Church in Charleston". The New York Times. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  30. ^ "Read President Obama's Speech on the Charleston Church Shooting". Time Magazine. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
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