Shooting Suspect ‘Admired White Supremacy’
President Obama condemns the killing of nine worshippers at a black church as 21-year-old Dylann Roof is arrested by police.
The nine victims of a shooting at a historic black church in South Carolina have been named, after the man suspected of carrying out the “senseless murders” was arrested.
Dylann Roof, 21, was taken into custody in Shelby, North Carolina, after being stopped by police who were tipped off by a member of the public. He is currently being taken back to South Carolina.
A manhunt had earlier been launched for a gunman who is thought to have sat with church-goers for an hour before spraying the group with bullets at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in downtown Charleston.
A librarian and recent college graduate were among those killed. County Coroner Rae Wooten said the gunman was accepted by the group before becoming aggressive and violent.
A relative of Clementa Pinckney, a pastor and state senator who was killed in the massacre, said she was told by one of the survivors that the gunman had said: "You rape our women and you’re taking over our country and you have to go. "Sylvia Johnson told WIS-TV that the survivor’s son had tried to talk the shooter out of what he was doing, but he replied: “I have to do it.”
He is said to have reloaded five times. A man who identified himself as Roof's uncle said he had **recently been given a handgun**](http://news.sky.com/story/1504632/church-shooting-what-we-know-about-suspect) as a birthday present by his father.
The suspect was known to police after being charged with a drugs offence in March and trespassing a month later.
Joseph Meek Jr, a friend of Roof, told the Associated Press news agency that Roof had told him black people were taking over the world and something needed to be done for the white race.
Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks white supremacist organisations, said Roof appears to be a "disaffected white supremacist" based on his Facebook page.
A photograph on his Facebook page shows Roof dressed in a jacket adorned with the flags of Apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia.
Roof’s mother Amy declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.“We will be doing no interviews, ever,” she said before hanging up. President Barack Obama has expressed “deep sorrow” over the “senseless murders”, which are being treated as a hate crime. An emotional Mr Obama said: “To say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families and the community doesn’t say enough to convey the heartache and the sadness and the anger that we feel.”
Six women and three men were killed. Eight people died at the scene, while the ninth victim died later in hospital. Three people survived. The other victims have been named as Cynthia Hurd, 54; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Sharonda Singleton, 45; Myra Thompson, 59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie Jackson, 87; the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; and DePayne Doctor, 49. Mr Sanders had recently graduated from Allen University in the city of Columbia, while Ms Hurd worked as librarian for more than 30 years. Mr Doctor was an enrolment counsellor at Southern Wesleyan University’s Charleston Campus, according to a friend.
Mr Obama, who knew Mr Pinckney, said the outpouring of “strength and unity” from the community shows the “purveyors of hatred” can be overcome. He also called into question US gun laws, saying communities “have had to endure tragedies like this too many times”.](http://news.sky.com/story/1504709/obama-on-us-gun-violence-too-many-times) A tearful Nikki Haley, the state’s governor, said the “heart and soul of Carolina is broken”, while Charleston mayor Joseph P Riley Jr called the shooting “pure concentrated evil”.
The gunman was seen leaving the scene of the shooting in a black four-door sedan. The area where Roof was captured some 13 hours later is around a four-hour drive from the scene. Roof was co-operative with the officer who stopped him and police believe he acted alone.
Source: Shooting Suspect ‘Admired White Supremacy’
More on his arrest and other details: Charleston shooter Dylann Roof had been ‘planning murder spree for six months’ | Daily Mail Online
Shocking story and so sad for the victims..
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