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Update: African American church shooting – Dylann Roof arrested
But Todd Rutherford, a state legislator, told The Associated Press that the Emanuel AME Church’s pastor, state Senator Clementa Pinckney, was among those killed.
Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two who was elected to the state House of Representatives at age 23, making him the youngest member of the House at the time.
“He never had anything bad to say about anybody, even when I thought he should,” Rutherford said. “He was always out doing work either for his parishioners or his constituents. He touched everybody.”
Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of Pinckney, said she spoke with one of the survivors of the shooting.
“From my understanding, the suspect came to the church and he asked for the pastor. He sat next to my cousin, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, throughout the entire bible study,” Johnson said.
“At the conclusion of the bible study, from what I understand, the survivors just started hearing loud noises just ringing out,” she said. “The suspect had already wounded a couple of individuals, including my cousin.”
U.S. President Barack Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, knew members of Emanuel AME Church, including Pinckney.
“I’ve had to make statements like this too many times, ” Obama said from the White House.
“At some point we will have to deal with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other countries – with this type of frequency,” he said. “And it is in our power to do something about it.”
Mullen said he believed the attack was a hate crime and a Justice Department spokesman said federal officials were opening a hate crime investigation. The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity. The official was not authorized to be quoted by name because the federal investigation had not been announced.
