Overview
Charleston Church Shooting refers to a mass murder by a lone gunman that resulted in the deaths of nine churchgoers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina on the evening of June 17th, 2015. Due to the racially charged nature of the shooting, as all nine victims were black and the suspect identified as a young white male, the act was widely condemned as an act of hate crime in the news and social media.
Background
On the night of June 17th, 2015, a lone shooter embedded among the prayers suddenly opened fire in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the oldest black congregations in the Southern United States, during a Bible study session, killing six women and three men all of whom were identified as black. Among those dead at the scene was Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney, the church’s senior pastor and Democratic state senator.
Notable Developments
Official Responses
In the immediate aftermath, the Charleston Police Department responded by declaring the assault as an act of hate crime and launching a manhunt of a suspect described by witnesses as a young white man wearing a gray sweatshirt and jeans. The police also released photographs of the suspect from surveillance footage, a youthful looking white man with bowl-shape cut blonde hair, and other details surrounding the shooter at large. In addition to the local authorities’ operation, the F.B.I., the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for South Carolina also launched a joint investigation into the shooting.
In the following hours of the tragedy, many other public figures across the country condemned the attack as a despicable act of hate crime, including President Barack Obama (shown below).
Online Reaction
Meanwhile on Twitter and elsewhere online, many pointed out what they perceived as a racial bias in the official and news media description of mass murder suspects, as well as inappropriateness of the Confederate flag flying at the South Carolina State House in Columbia.
Suspect Arrested
The next morning, after about 14 hours of an intensive manhunt for the suspect, a 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof was arrested and taken into police custody during a traffic stop in Shelby, North Carolina.
External References
[1]Wikipedia – Charleston Church Shooting
[2]Washington Post – Dylann Roof, suspect in Charleston church shooting, has been captured
[3]CNN– Charleston church shooting: Multiple fatalities in South Carolina, source says
[4]NBC News – Nine Killed at Historic Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina
[5]New York Times – Charleston Church Shooting Suspect, Dylann Storm Roof, Captured
[6]TIME– Everything We Know About the Charleston Shooting
[7]Independent – Charleston shooting: Five-year-old child who ‘played dead’ among survivors in South Carolina
[8]Twitter – #CharlestonShooting