A suspected terrorist, Dylann Roof, 21, has killled 9 Black men and women in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, US. The suspected terrorist shot the 9 people during a prayer meeting on Wednesday, June 17, 2015.
The 9 people killed include:Cynthia Hurd, 54; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70; Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49; Hon. Rev. Clementa Pinckney,
41; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; Rev. Sharonda Singleton, 45; Myra Thompson, 59. Hon. Rev. Clementa Pnckney was the Church pastor and South Carolina State Congressman.
According to Sylvia Johnson, a cousin to Hon. Rev. Clementa Pnckney, the suspected terrorist allegedly told the victims before the shooting, "You[Black people] rape our women and you're taking over our country. And you have to go."
The suspected terrorist was arrested in Shelby, North Carolina, following a tip from a citizen, Debbie Dills. Debbie Dills, told the Shelby Star, a news media in North Carolina, that she had identified the suspected terrorist on her way to work and followed him for 35 miles. "I had been praying for those people on my way to work. I was in the right place at the right time,"Debbe Dills told the newspaper.
The church in which the terrorist acts took place is the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, near the heart of Charleston's tourist district. It was founded in the early 19th century and played a major role in the Civil rights movement of the Black people in the South. The church pastor, Hon. Rev. Clementa Pnckney, was an influential leader who ascended to prominence at early age. He was viewed as one of the most influential Blacks in America.
Three people survived the shooting. One, a woman was spared by the suspected terrorist who told her: 'I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to spare you, so you can tell them what happened" and "tell the story to the NAACP".
