Charlotte, North Carolina police have announced the capture of 21-year-old Dylann Roof, the suspected shooter who killed nine people inside a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., according to CNN News. CNN is saying the suspect is in custody in Shelby, N.C.
The shooting took place Wednesday night about 9 p.m. at the 180-year-old Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, leaving six women and three men dead.
Roof apparently walked in on a bible study and prayer meeting and after about an hour, according to witnesses, the suspect stood up and said he was there “to shoot black people,” a law enforcement official said. The shooter is also thought to have used a handgun, according to the official.
Three people survived the massacre, with one surviving woman saying she was given a message by the shooter: “Her life was spared, and (she was) told, I’m not going to kill you, I’m going to spare you, so you can tell them what happened,” Charleston NAACP President Dot Scott told CNN. Scott said she heard this from the victims’ family members.
Federal authorities have opened a hate crime investigation on this case said the Department of Justice. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said, “The only reason someone would walk into a church and shoot people that were praying is hate.”
Among those killed in the massacre was South Carolina Senator Clementa Pinckney. He was just one of 13 people inside the church. It is not known if anyone was singled out in the shooting.
