The suspected gunman wanted for killing six women and three men inside of a church Wednesday night has been captured and put into custody as of Thursday morning after being found 200 miles away in Shelby, North Carolina 14 hours later, according to the New York Times.
The suspect was identified as Dylann Storm Roof, a 21 year old white male from Columbia, South Carolina. Roof walked into a prayer meeting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church around 8 p.m., sat down with black parishioners for nearly an hour, and then opened fire, according to the New York Times.
Roof’s Facebook profile picture shows him wearing a jacket decorated with the flags of two former white supremacist regimes.
Among the dead was Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, pastor of the church, who was also a state senator, according to the New York Times.
“I have to do it,” the gunman said. “You rape our women and you’re taking over the country. And you have to go.”
The Charleston police chief, Greg Mullen, called the attack a hate crime, according to the New York Times.
President Obama spoke on the incident after hearing about the tragedy.
“There is something particularly heartbreaking about a death happening in a place we seek solace,” the president said at the White House.
Check back to KnightNews.com for updates on this heartbreaking story.
