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9 dead in ‘hate crime’ shooting at historic African American church in Charleston
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/17/white-gunman-sought-in-shooting-at-historic-charleston-african-ame-church/
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Police widened the search Thursday for a gunman who opened fire and killed nine people during a prayer service at a historic African American church in downtown Charleston, in one of the worst attacks on a place of worship in the United States in recent memory.
At least one other person was injured in the Wednesday night assault, which began about an hour after the assailant entered the church and observed the service, authorities said.
“We believe this is a hate crime; that is how we are investigating it,” Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen said at a dawn news conference.
Officers in fatigues, some with dogs, said they were searching “near and far” for the gunman, described as a clean-shaven white male in his early 20s with sandy blond hair and a slight build. Police said he was wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and Timberland boots. He is believed to be the only shooter.
At a nearby Embassy Suites, which was serving as an informal headquarters for church members, people began sobbing and screaming as they learned details about what had happened.
“We just left speaking to members of the families,” Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley (D) told reporters overnight. “It was a heartbreaking scene I have never witnessed in my life before.”
Six females and three males were killed, police said. Though authorities did not release the names of the victims, the church’s pastor, Clementa Pinckney, who is also a South Carolina state senator, was missing after the shooting, and some members of the congregation feared the worst. Indeed, House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford said Pinckney was among the dead, and friends started posting “RIP” condolences on social media.
“Rest in peace my friend Sen. Rev. Clementa Pinckney,” Rep. Samuel Rivers Jr., wrote on Twitter. “When the name of the church dawned on me I tried calling Clementa.”
“My friend and brother in Christ Senator Clementa Pinckney was shot to death in the senseless tragedy that occurred in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston,” Larry Grooms, a state senator, wrote on Facebook. “My heart breaks for the loss of Sen. Pinckney, the other victims and for their families. Now is the time for prayer. Let us all unite our hearts in prayer and ask God for His Grace, Love and Mercy.”
Police said the victims had gathered Wednesday night in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, also known as “Mother Emanuel,” for a prayer meeting when the shooting occurred. The congregation, established in 1816, is one of the oldest African American churches in the United States.
“This is the most unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy in historic Emanuel AME church, the mother church of the AME churches,” said Riley, the city’s mayor. “People in prayer Wednesday evening, a ritual coming together, praying and worshiping God. To have an awful person come in and shoot them is inexplicable. Obviously the most intolerable and unbelievable act possible.”
“The only reason someone could walk into a church and shoot people praying is out of hate,” Riley continued. “The only reason. It is the most dastardly act that one could possibly imagine.”
At a subsequent news conference, Riley called the suspect a “horrible scoundrel” and said: “This is an unfathomable and unspeakable act by somebody filled with hate and with a deranged mind.”
Police said the shooting occurred at about 9 p.m. at the historic church, which is located between Henrietta and Calhoun streets near Marion Square in downtown Charleston. Emergency dispatchers received a call at about 9:05 p.m., police said, and units were immediately dispatched to the church.
When officers arrived, they determined that eight people had been killed inside the church, Mullen said. A ninth person was taken to a nearby hospital, where that person died, the police chief said. Police initially said a total of two people had been taken to the hospital, but clarified later that there was only one.
The Rev. Norvel Goff, a presiding elder for the African Methodist Episcopal Church who was interviewed near the scene, said the suspect “walked in, from my understanding, not so much as a participant, but as a brief observer who then stood up and then started shooting.”
“It’s a very tragic situation,” Goff said. “Stressful. Grieving.”
Mullen told reporters that the suspect stayed with the group in the church for about an hour before opening fire.
Officials said there were survivors but did not elaborate on their condition.
“This tragedy that we’re addressing right now is undescribable,” the police chief said at a news conference early Thursday morning. “No one in this community will ever forget this night. And as a result of that, and because of the pain, and because of the hurt that this individual has caused this community, this entire community, the law enforcement agencies that are working on this are committed — we will catch this individual.”
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said in a statement late Wednesday night that she was praying for the victims and their families.
“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. “Please join us in lifting up the victims and their families with our love and prayers.”
After the shooting, helicopters swarmed overhead and heavily armed police wearing bulletproof vests fanned out across the city to search for the suspect.
“This was a very chaotic scene when we arrived,” Mullen said. “We were tracking this individual with canines. We were making sure that he was not in the area to commit other crimes. As all this was going on, we received information that there might be a secondary explosive device in the scene.”
Taxi driver Sheila Seagers, 60, heard the news on the radio and parked her Lincoln Town Car blocks from the scene. She stayed for hours, lingering and chatting quietly with friends. She called her state of mind a “ball of confusion.”
“I keep thinking of that big, beautiful church,” she said.
“We don’t want trouble but we keeping getting trouble,” she added. “I hate to say it, but what’s next? I pray that when morning comes there will be peace.”
Crisis chaplains rushed to the scene as people started creating prayers circles to pray for the victims and their families.
“I had to come, couldn’t sit home and watch my community on television,” said 59-year-old Ken Battle, a retired member of the U.S. Air Force. “But I can’t make up my mind about what has happened here. Being here helps me make meaning out of it.”
Mullen, the Charleston police chief, said authorities are investigating Wednesday’s incident as a hate crime. Local law authorities have joined forces with the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track down leads. “We are not leaving any stone unturned,” Mullen said.
He noted at a 7 a.m. media briefing that authorities do not know where suspect is.
“This person is dangerous,” said Riley, the city’s longtime mayor. “We need every tip we can get to bring this person into custody as soon as possible, and of course will make sure that he pays the price for this horrible act.”
Hours after the massacre, Riley called for bolstered gun-control laws, saying: “I personally believe there are far too many guns out there, and access to guns, it’s far too easy. Our society has not been able to deal with that yet.”
A decades-long advocate for gun control, Riley said the the killings were “another example of why” more measures are necessary.
“This is just a very heartbreaking and tragic example of why it is needed,” he said.
In a statement released hours after the shooting, NAACP president and CEO Cornell William Brooks said:
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.
A prayer vigil will be held at noon at Morris Brown AME church in Charleston.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/17/white-gunman-sought-in-shooting-at-historic-charleston-african-ame-church/
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Police widened the search Thursday for a gunman who opened fire and killed nine people during a prayer service at a historic African American church in downtown Charleston, in one of the worst attacks on a place of worship in the United States in recent memory.
At least one other person was injured in the Wednesday night assault, which began about an hour after the assailant entered the church and observed the service, authorities said.
“We believe this is a hate crime; that is how we are investigating it,” Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen said at a dawn news conference.
Officers in fatigues, some with dogs, said they were searching “near and far” for the gunman, described as a clean-shaven white male in his early 20s with sandy blond hair and a slight build. Police said he was wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and Timberland boots. He is believed to be the only shooter.
At a nearby Embassy Suites, which was serving as an informal headquarters for church members, people began sobbing and screaming as they learned details about what had happened.
“We just left speaking to members of the families,” Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley (D) told reporters overnight. “It was a heartbreaking scene I have never witnessed in my life before.”
Six females and three males were killed, police said. Though authorities did not release the names of the victims, the church’s pastor, Clementa Pinckney, who is also a South Carolina state senator, was missing after the shooting, and some members of the congregation feared the worst. Indeed, House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford said Pinckney was among the dead, and friends started posting “RIP” condolences on social media.
“Rest in peace my friend Sen. Rev. Clementa Pinckney,” Rep. Samuel Rivers Jr., wrote on Twitter. “When the name of the church dawned on me I tried calling Clementa.”
“My friend and brother in Christ Senator Clementa Pinckney was shot to death in the senseless tragedy that occurred in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston,” Larry Grooms, a state senator, wrote on Facebook. “My heart breaks for the loss of Sen. Pinckney, the other victims and for their families. Now is the time for prayer. Let us all unite our hearts in prayer and ask God for His Grace, Love and Mercy.”
Police said the victims had gathered Wednesday night in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, also known as “Mother Emanuel,” for a prayer meeting when the shooting occurred. The congregation, established in 1816, is one of the oldest African American churches in the United States.
“This is the most unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy in historic Emanuel AME church, the mother church of the AME churches,” said Riley, the city’s mayor. “People in prayer Wednesday evening, a ritual coming together, praying and worshiping God. To have an awful person come in and shoot them is inexplicable. Obviously the most intolerable and unbelievable act possible.”
“The only reason someone could walk into a church and shoot people praying is out of hate,” Riley continued. “The only reason. It is the most dastardly act that one could possibly imagine.”
At a subsequent news conference, Riley called the suspect a “horrible scoundrel” and said: “This is an unfathomable and unspeakable act by somebody filled with hate and with a deranged mind.”
Police said the shooting occurred at about 9 p.m. at the historic church, which is located between Henrietta and Calhoun streets near Marion Square in downtown Charleston. Emergency dispatchers received a call at about 9:05 p.m., police said, and units were immediately dispatched to the church.
When officers arrived, they determined that eight people had been killed inside the church, Mullen said. A ninth person was taken to a nearby hospital, where that person died, the police chief said. Police initially said a total of two people had been taken to the hospital, but clarified later that there was only one.
The Rev. Norvel Goff, a presiding elder for the African Methodist Episcopal Church who was interviewed near the scene, said the suspect “walked in, from my understanding, not so much as a participant, but as a brief observer who then stood up and then started shooting.”
“It’s a very tragic situation,” Goff said. “Stressful. Grieving.”
Mullen told reporters that the suspect stayed with the group in the church for about an hour before opening fire.
Officials said there were survivors but did not elaborate on their condition.
“This tragedy that we’re addressing right now is undescribable,” the police chief said at a news conference early Thursday morning. “No one in this community will ever forget this night. And as a result of that, and because of the pain, and because of the hurt that this individual has caused this community, this entire community, the law enforcement agencies that are working on this are committed — we will catch this individual.”
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said in a statement late Wednesday night that she was praying for the victims and their families.
“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. “Please join us in lifting up the victims and their families with our love and prayers.”
After the shooting, helicopters swarmed overhead and heavily armed police wearing bulletproof vests fanned out across the city to search for the suspect.
“This was a very chaotic scene when we arrived,” Mullen said. “We were tracking this individual with canines. We were making sure that he was not in the area to commit other crimes. As all this was going on, we received information that there might be a secondary explosive device in the scene.”
Taxi driver Sheila Seagers, 60, heard the news on the radio and parked her Lincoln Town Car blocks from the scene. She stayed for hours, lingering and chatting quietly with friends. She called her state of mind a “ball of confusion.”
“I keep thinking of that big, beautiful church,” she said.
“We don’t want trouble but we keeping getting trouble,” she added. “I hate to say it, but what’s next? I pray that when morning comes there will be peace.”
Crisis chaplains rushed to the scene as people started creating prayers circles to pray for the victims and their families.
“I had to come, couldn’t sit home and watch my community on television,” said 59-year-old Ken Battle, a retired member of the U.S. Air Force. “But I can’t make up my mind about what has happened here. Being here helps me make meaning out of it.”
Mullen, the Charleston police chief, said authorities are investigating Wednesday’s incident as a hate crime. Local law authorities have joined forces with the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track down leads. “We are not leaving any stone unturned,” Mullen said.
He noted at a 7 a.m. media briefing that authorities do not know where suspect is.
“This person is dangerous,” said Riley, the city’s longtime mayor. “We need every tip we can get to bring this person into custody as soon as possible, and of course will make sure that he pays the price for this horrible act.”
Hours after the massacre, Riley called for bolstered gun-control laws, saying: “I personally believe there are far too many guns out there, and access to guns, it’s far too easy. Our society has not been able to deal with that yet.”
A decades-long advocate for gun control, Riley said the the killings were “another example of why” more measures are necessary.
“This is just a very heartbreaking and tragic example of why it is needed,” he said.
In a statement released hours after the shooting, NAACP president and CEO Cornell William Brooks said:
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.
A prayer vigil will be held at noon at Morris Brown AME church in Charleston.
