US Shooting: Suspect Got Gun As 21st Birthday Gift
The person who shot and killed nine people at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church was there for about an hour, attending a meeting with the eventual victims, before he began shooting, Charleston police Chief Greg Mullen said Thursday morning.
Of the nine people killed, six were female and three were male.
The suspect is in his early 20s and stands 5 feet, 9 inches tall. “He has on a very distinctive sweatshirt as well as the vehicle, with a
very distinctive license plate,” the police chief said.
Police have launched a manhunt after nine people were killed in a mass shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, United States.
The shooting happened at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in downtown Charleston at around 9pm (local time) on Wednesday night.
Police said eight people had died at the scene and a ninth victim died later in hospital. A tenth victim is being treated in hospital.
Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen confirmed the shooting was being investigated as a hate crime.
The city’s mayor Joe Riley said: “This is an unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy in this most historic church, an evil and
hateful person took the lives of citizens who had come to worship and pray together.”
Shortly after the shooting, people were told to move back after a bomb threat was made in the area, the Reuters news agency reported.
A police spokesman said they were looking for a slim white male suspect, aged around 21 and wearing a grey sweatshirt, blue jeans and Timberland boots.
A police helicopter was assisting officers on the ground – wearing bulletproof vests and carrying guns – with the search for the shooter and the FBI were also investigating.
Cameras at the scene filmed police taking a white man in a grey T-shirt into a nearby Marriott hotel – but law enforcement officials
said they were still looking for the gunman.
Local media said the more than 150-year-old Emmanuel AME church has a predominantly black congregation and is one of the oldest in the country.
Fox News reported that a bible study session is held in the basement every Wednesday evening.
The church’s pastor, Clementa Pinckney, is also a state senator and is thought to have been in the building at the time of the shooting.
Tearful relatives were seen gathering at the edge of the police cordon, where they were speaking to emergency services workers.
Charleston Governor Nikki Haley said in a statement: “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.”
Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush announced he was cancelling a scheduled appearance in Charleston on Thursday.
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