Police have released photos of a white male they say is a suspect in the shooting that took the lives of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday evening.
As a reminder, around 9 pm EST last night, a white male in a grey sweatshirt and jeans opened fire [3] inside Emanuel AME church during a prayer meeting.
Here are the images of the suspected shooter and his vehicle:
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Police are describing the tragedy as a hate crime. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center [5] there are 19 active hate groups in South Carolina...
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More color from WSJ [8]:
The scene was chaotic when police arrived and that officers thought they had the suspect tracked with a police dog, but he got away.
Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley called the shooting “the most unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy.”
“The only reason that someone could walk into a church and shoot people praying is out of hate,” Mr. Riley said. “It is the most dastardly act that one could possibly imagine, and we will bring that person to justice.…This is one hateful person.”
The attack comes two months after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Walter Scott, by a white police officer in neighboring North Charleston, which sparked major protests and highlighted racial tensions in the area. The officer has been charged with murder.
In a statement, Gov. Nikki Haley asked South Carolinians to pray for the victims and their families and decried violence on religious places.
“While we do not yet know all of the details, we do know that we’ll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another,” Mrs. Haley said.
Police moved members of the media back away from the site because of what they called an “imminent” threat but didn’t release any details.
The Emmanuel AME church is a historic African-American church that traces its roots to 1816, when several churches split from Charleston’s Methodist Episcopal church.
One of its founders, Denmark Vesey, tried to organize a slave revolt in 1822. He was caught, and white landowners had his church burned in revenge. Parishioners worshiped underground until after the Civil War.
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