Victims named in Charleston church shooting
06/18/2015 23:25
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Grief mingled with relief Thursday as police announced the arrest and identity of a man accused of opening fire on a prayer group in a historic African American church.
Within hours of the arrest of Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old from Eastover, S.C., police also released the names of the nine victims killed, which included the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, who is also a South Carolina state senator; the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, the mother Charleston Southern University student; and Cynthia Hurd, the manager of the St. Andrews Regional Library.
The other victims were Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70; DePayne Middleton; Tywanza Sanders, 25; Myra Thompson, 59; and Daniel Simmons.
Almost immediately, the shooting — by a white man in a black church — sparked discussion about race relations and hate groups.
“This is the most unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy in historic Emanuel AME church, the mother church of the AME churches,” said Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. (D). “People in prayer Wednesday evening, a ritual coming together, praying and worshiping God. . . . The only reason someone could walk into a church and shoot people praying is out of hate. The only reason. It is the most dastardly act that one could possibly imagine.”
It also pulled back to the forefront the ongoing debate about gun control.
“Once again innocent people were killed because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun,” said President Obama from the White House.
Although he acknowledged many facts are not yet known, the president also said that insufficient gun laws were partially to blame.
“Now is the time for mourning and for healing,” the president added. “But let’s be clear: At some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”
Read more: Victims named in Charleston church shooting
