Charleston church shooting suspect charged with 9 counts of murder, firearm possession

Mourner kneels outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 18, 2015 (Reuters / Brian Snyder)

Mourner kneels outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 18, 2015 (Reuters / Brian Snyder)

Dylann Roof has been charged with nine counts of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, according to police. He confessed to killing nine people at a Charleston church on Friday, according to officials cited by CNN.

Police made the
announcement in a Friday Twitter post, adding that Roof’s bond
hearing will take place at 2 p.m. local time on Friday.

Roof reportedly said he
wanted to start a race war.

The 21-year-old was
arrested by authorities in Shelby, North Carolina, on Thursday,
following the tragic shooting which left six women and three men
dead.

The .45-caliber handgun
used in the attack was apparently purchased by Roof in Charleston
in April. Previous reports stated that the gun was a birthday
gift from his father. However, his grandfather stated that Roof
was merely given
“birthday money,” and that his family didn’t know what
he used it for.

It was Roof’s own sister, Amber, who called authorities after
seeing the surveillance photo of her brother on TV, The
Washington Post reported, citing law enforcement officials who
spoke on condition of anonymity.

South Carolina Governor
Nikki Haley told NBC Charleston that Roof should get the death
penalty.

The “race war” comment comes after Dalton Tyler, who
said he has known Roof for seven months to a year, told ABC News
that Roof was “big into segregation.”

READ MORE: 9 people killed in S. Carolina
church shooting, police investigating ‘hate crime’

“I
think he wanted something big like Trayvon
Martin,”
Tylersaid.“He wanted to make something spark
up the race war again.”

Hundreds in Charleston attended a vigil for the nine victims on
Thursday, packing the church’s pews and the street outside.

Roof left White Knoll
High School in the suburbs of Columbia, South Carolina, in ninth
grade. He finished out the year at another nearby high school,
but didn’t return after that year.

These are not Roof’s
first criminal charges.
The 21-year-old drew the attention
of police at a local mall in February, walking into stores
wearing all black and asking workers “out of the ordinary
questions”
such as how many people worked at the shops, and
what time they left.

The officer who questioned Roof at that time found strips of
Suboxone, a drug for treating opiate addition, in his jacket
pocket. He was charged with felony drug possession and banned
from the mall.

Source Article from http://rt.com/usa/268330-south-carolina-shooting-confess/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

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