olice Chief Greg Mullen said he believed the attack at
the Emanuel AME Church was a hate crime, and police were looking for a white
male in his early 20s. Mullen said the scene was chaotic when police arrived,
and the officers thought they had the suspect tracked with a police dog, but he
got away.
"We will put all effort, we will put all resources
and we will put all of our energy into finding this individual who committed
this crime tonight," he said.
The FBI will aid the investigation, Mullen told a news
conference that was attended by FBI Special Agent in Charge David A. Thomas.
Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley called the shooting
"the most unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy."
"The only reason that someone could walk into a
church and shoot people praying is out of hate," Riley said. "It is
the most dastardly act that one could possibly imagine, and we will bring that
person to justice. ... This is one hateful person."
Police stand outside the Emanuel AME Church following a
shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charle …
State House Minority leader Todd Rutherford told The
Associated Press that the church's pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, was
among those killed.
"He never had anything bad to say about anybody,
even when I thought he should," Rutherford, D-Columbia, said. "He was
always out doing work either for his parishioners or his constituents. He
touched everybody."
The attack came two months after the fatal shooting of an
unarmed black man, Walter Scott, by a white police officer in neighboring North
Charleston that sparked major protests and highlighted racial tensions in the
area. The officer has been charged with murder, and the shooting prompted South
Carolina lawmakers to push through a bill helping all police agencies in the
state get body cameras. Pinckney was a sponsor of that bill.
In a statement, Gov. Nikki Haley asked South Carolinians
to pray for the victims and their families and decried violence at religious
institutions.
"We'll never understand what motivates anyone to
enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another," Haley
said.
Soon after Wednesday night's shooting, a group of pastors
huddled together praying in a circle across the street.
Community organizer Christopher Cason said he felt
certain the shootings were racially motivated.
"I am very tired of people telling me that I don't
have the right to be angry," Cason said. "I am very angry right
now."
Even before Scott's shooting in April, Cason said he had
been part of a group meeting with police and local leaders to try to shore up
relations.
The Emmanuel AME church is a historic African-American
church that traces its roots to 1816, when several churches split from
Charleston's Methodist Episcopal Church.
One of its founders, Denmark Vesey, tried to organize a
slave revolt in 1822. He was caught, and white landowners had his church burned
in revenge. Parishioners worshipped underground until after the Civil War.
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