Nine Murdered In South Carolina Church, Suspect Captured

[smac97]

Here:

 

CHARLESTON, S.C. — XXX, who police say opened fire and killed nine people during a prayer service at a historic African American church here, has been arrested.

 

XXX, a 21-year-old from Columbia, S.C., was taken into custody Thursday morning, not long after law enforcement officials identified him as the person responsible for the Wednesday-night massacre, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news briefing.

 

Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen said XXX was arrested during a traffic stop in Shelby, N.C., just after 11 a.m.

 

...

 

XXX lived about 15 miles southeast of Columbia, the state capital, in Eastover, S.C., court records show. He was arrested twice earlier this year, once on a drug charge and later for trespassing, records show. Both arrests occurred near Columbia.

 

He was found guilty of trespassing, but the drug charge was still pending. He was fined $262.50, which he elected to pay off in installments.

 

It was the deadliest attack on a place of worship in the United States in recent memory. In 2012, a white supremacist shot and killed six worshipers and wounded four others at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. A shooting rampage by a gunman in 2008 killed two people and wounded seven at a Unitarian Universalist church in Tennessee.

 

Six females and three males were killed in the Charleston attack, police said.

 

...

 

Though authorities did not release the names of the victims, the church’s pastor, Clementa Pinckney, who is also a South Carolina state senator, was missing after the shooting, and some members of the congregation feared the worst.

 

The pastor’s cousin confirmed Pinckney’s death in an interview with CNN on Thursday.

 

...

 

In Charleston, at a nearby Embassy Suites, which was serving as an informal headquarters for church members, people began sobbing and screaming as they learned details about what had happened Wednesday night. “It was a heartbreaking scene I have never witnessed in my life before,” said Riley, the city’s longtime mayor.

 

Police said the victims were gathered in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, also known as “Mother Emanuel,” for a prayer meeting Wednesday when the shooting occurred. The congregation, established in 1816, is one of the oldest African American churches in the United States.

 

I am at a loss.  I cannot fathom what these folks must be feeling.  

 

-Smac

Edited June 18, 2015 by smac97

[Avatar4321]

Any word on motivation? Was it race related? Religiously motivated? Politically?

[ttribe]

Any word on motivation? Was it race related? Religiously motivated? Politically?

 

"Witnesses say 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."

 

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/18/us/charleston-south-carolina-shooting/index.html

[Calm]

Any word on motivation? Was it race related? Religiously motivated? Politically?

Wanted to make a name for himself?

[rockpond]

Wanted to make a name for himself?

 

Possibly.

 

Smac -- Would you consider editing your OP and redacting all mentions of this monster's name?

[smac97]

Possibly.

 

Smac -- Would you consider editing your OP and redacting all mentions of this monster's name?

 

Done.  Let us acknowledge evil, but minimize the individualized attention and infamy the evildoer may have craved.  Or perhaps he is profoundly mentally ill (hopefully).

[rockpond]

Done.  Let us acknowledge evil, but minimize the individualized attention and infamy the evildoer may have craved.  Or perhaps he is profoundly mentally ill (hopefully).

 

Thanks, I wish there was a way to get news outlets to do the same.

[Scott Lloyd]

An interesting circumstance of our Internet age: I first learned of this happening last night from a pop-up bulletin in Swedish that appeared on my iPod touch. I have an app for Svenska Dagbladet, one of Sweden's major newspapers, and the app sends me immediate alerts.

Edited June 18, 2015 by Scott Lloyd

[thesometimesaint]

All very sad. Prayers to all the victims families. The guy seems, according to news reports, to have been motivated by a deep racial hatred and wanted a return of the Confederacy.

[Scott Lloyd]

All very sad. Prayers to all the victims families. The guy seems, according to news reports, to have been motivated by a deep racial hatred and wanted a return of the Confederacy.

Just guessing, but he may have been too young to remember the Confederacy.

[bcuzbcuz]

An interesting circumstance of our Internet age: I first learned of this happening last night from a pop-up bulletin in Swedish that appeared on my iPod touch. I have an app for Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden's largest daily newspaper, and the app sends me immediate alerts.

Wait, wait wait!

Jag tror inte att SvD är Sveriges största tidning!

But yes, Swedish news usually carries American news as it happens

[bluebell]

Thanks, I wish there was a way to get news outlets to do the same.

 

It should be common practice, just like with victims of sexual abuse, that the identity be kept out of the press as much as possible.  Too many of these evil idiots looking for fame and recognition from their fellow evil idiots.

[thesometimesaint]

I'm older than dirt. But I lived in the South in mid 1960's. "Save your Confederate money, the South will rise again" was a well known if not beloved phrase there.

[The Nehor]

I'm older than dirt. But I lived in the South in mid 1960's. "Save your Confederate money, the South will rise again" was a well known if not beloved phrase there.

 

The South will rise again! I guess Atlanta may need another good burning......

[Scott Lloyd]

Thanks, I wish there was a way to get news outlets to do the same.

I can't agree that society would be better off if news organizations self-censored essential facts in a news story just to prevent some lunatic getting his kicks from having his name before the public.

[LoudmouthMormon]

Ugh.  And of course the killing happened in a gun-free zone.  Because pretty much they always do.

 

South Carolina Law: "You may not carry a firearm on school premises (including day care and preschool facilities), in law enforcement offices or facilities, in court facilities, at polling places on election days, in churches or other religious sanctuaries,or in hospitals or medical facilities."

 

I'm grateful they seem to have caught the guy who did it.

Edited June 18, 2015 by LoudmouthMormon

[mormonnewb]

My wife just asked if I had seen a statement from the Church on the shooting.  I looked on LDS Newsroom, but I didn't see it there.  And yes, I'm familiar with Google, but it isn't always the best source for finding current news items (it sometimes takes the bots a few hours to do their thing).

 

Anyone have the quick link to the Church's statement in which we join others in expressing our sorrow for what happened in Charleston last night?

Edited June 19, 2015 by mormonnewb

[Duncan]

My wife just asked if I had seen a statement from the Church on the shooting.  I looked on LDS Newsroom, but I didn't see it there.  And yes, I'm familiar with Google, but it isn't always the best source for finding current news items (it sometimes takes the bots a few hours to do their thing).

 

Anyone have the quick link to the Church's statement in which we join others in expressing our sorrow for what happened in Charleston last night?

 

 

Maybe the local LDS Church had something to say. By the way I didn't see anything when a Canadian Soldier was shot and killed last year guarding the War Memorial in Ottawa or when in 2011 their was that Norway massacre, that I recall. Sadly their are too many events that happen all over the world to comment on. 

[Calm]

My memory is that it is mainly major natural disasters they respond to...probably because it would be endless to try and respond to all the tragedies over the world (the US isn't the only place that has these after all) and could be taken wrongly if they left some event out.

 

But I may just not be paying close enough attention.

Edited June 19, 2015 by calmoriah

[Russell C McGregor]

Ugh.  And of course the killing happened in a gun-free zone.  Because pretty much they always do.

 

South Carolina Law: "You may not carry a firearm on school premises (including day care and preschool facilities), in law enforcement offices or facilities, in court facilities, at polling places on election days, in churches or other religious sanctuaries,or in hospitals or medical facilities."

 

I'm grateful they seem to have caught the guy who did it.

So am I.

And I admit that I wouldn't feel a whole lot safer in Sacrament meeting if half the congregation was packin' heat.

[mormonnewb]

So am I.

And I admit that I wouldn't feel a whole lot safer in Sacrament meeting if half the congregation was packin' heat.

 

Mark the date, the time, the temperature and the barometric pressure.  We agree on something!  I'm pretty sure Haley's Comet will arrive before we agree again.

[Russell C McGregor]

Mark the date, the time, the temperature and the barometric pressure.  We agree on something!  I'm pretty sure Haley's Comet will arrive before we agree again.

I don't know; you just said something in another thread that I agreed with.

Something about the Church doing something right...

[mormonnewb]

Maybe the local LDS Church had something to say. By the way I didn't see anything when a Canadian Soldier was shot and killed last year guarding the War Memorial in Ottawa or when in 2011 their was that Norway massacre, that I recall. Sadly their are too many events that happen all over the world to comment on. 

 

The Church can't comment on every tragedy, but when the tragedy happens inside a house of Christian worship, then it probably should join EVERY other Christian church in showing its solidarity.  It's kind of the polite thing to do.  That's why I'm sure I'm just missing the statement because it's the first page in the Public Relations handbook.

[mormonnewb]

I don't know; you just said something in another thread that I agreed with.

Something about the Church doing something right...

 

No, you misunderstand.  I write sensible things here all of the time.  I would suspect that you would agree with some of them.  But I'm agreeing with YOU.  That's something altogether different.  

 

(Sorry, I couldn't help myself!)

[Russell C McGregor]

The Church can't comment on every tragedy, but when the tragedy happens inside a house of Christian worship, then it probably should join EVERY other Christian church in showing its solidarity.  It's kind of the polite thing to do.  That's why I'm sure I'm just missing the statement because it's the first page in the Public Relations handbook.

I agree that it wouldn't hurt. But I don't see an obligation for them to make a public statement. Assuming that there are some LDS congregations there (iffen there would be in that thar hotbed of secession) they'd be in a much better position to provide some real boots-on-the-ground help.