Suspect in Charleston shooting has been captured

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- A white man was arrested Thursday in the slayings of nine people, including the pastor, at a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston.

body copy: Dylann Storm Roof, 21, stayed for nearly an hour inside the church Wednesday night before shooting six females and three males at a prayer meeting, Police Chief Greg Mullen said.

Roof put up no resistance after a citizen tip led police to his car Thursday morning in Shelby, North Carolina, Mullen said.

"Acts like this one have no place in our country," said Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who announced a Justice Department hate crime investigation. "They have no place in a civilized society."

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church's pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, was among those killed. Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two who was elected to the state House at 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," State House Minority leader Todd Rutherford told The Associated Press. "He was always out doing work either for his parishioners or his constituents. He touched everybody."

Roof's childhood friend, Joey Meek, alerted the FBI after recognizing him in a surveillance camera image that was widely circulated, said Meek's mother, Kimberly Kozny. Roof had worn the same sweatshirt while playing Xbox videogames in their home recently.

"I don't know what was going through his head," Kozny said. "He was a really sweet kid. He was quiet. He only had a few friends."

Roof had been to jail: State court records show a pending felony drug case against him, and a past misdemeanor trespassing charge.

Roof displayed a Confederate flag on his license plate, Kozny said, and in a photo on his Facebook page, he wears a jacket with stitched-on flag patches from two other defeated white-ruled regimes: Rhodesia and apartheid-era South Africa.

The shooting evoked painful memories of other attacks on black churches. They were bombed the 1960s, when they served as organizing hubs for the Civil Rights movement. Many were burned by arsons in the 1990s. Others survived shooting sprees.

This particular church, which was founded in 1816, had its own grim history: When a founder, Denmark Vesey, tried to organize a slave revolt in 1822, he was caught, and white landowners burned the church down in revenge. Parishioners worshipped underground until after the Civil War.

This shooting "should be a warning to us all that we do have a problem in our society," said state Rep. Wendell Gilliard, a Democrat whose district includes the church. "We need action. There's a race problem in our country. There's a gun problem in our country. We need to act on them quickly."

Mullen said names of the victims would be released once families have been notified.

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. called the shooting "an unfathomable and unspeakable act by somebody filled with hate and with a deranged mind."

"Of all cities, in Charleston, to have a horrible hateful person go into the church and kill people there to pray and worship with each other is something that is beyond any comprehension and is not explained," Riley said. "We are going to put our arms around that church and that church family."

A few bouquets of flowers tied to a police barricade formed a small but growing memorial Thursday morning a block away from the church.

"Today I feel like it's 9-11 again," Bob Dyer, who works in the area, said after leaving an arrangement of yellow flowers wrapped in plastic. "I'm in shock."

Charleston residents Samuel Ward and Evangeline Simmons stood silently at the barricade with arms around each other. Simmons said she belongs to another AME congregation.

"It's like it's just trying to strip away part of your faith," Simmons said. "But it just makes you stronger."

In a statement, NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks condemned the shooting.

"There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture," Brooks said.

The attack came two months after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Walter Scott, by a white police officer in neighboring North Charleston that sparked major protests and highlighted racial tensions in the area. The officer has been charged with murder, and the shooting prompted South Carolina lawmakers to push through a bill helping all police agencies in the state get body cameras. Pinckney was a sponsor of that bill.

Soon after Wednesday night's shooting, a group of pastors huddled together praying in a circle across the street.

Images on a flier provided to media, Thursday, June 18, 2015, by the Charleston Police Department show surveillance footage of a suspect wanted in connection with a shooting Wednesday at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. (Charleston Police Department via AP)

Community organizer Christopher Cason said he felt certain the shootings were racially motivated.

"I am very tired of people telling me that I don't have the right to be angry," Cason said. "I am very angry right now."

Even before Scott's shooting in April, Cason said he had been part of a group meeting with police and local leaders to try to shore up relations.

Contributors include Meg Kinnard and David Goldman in Charleston, South Carolina; Eric Tucker in Washington and Jacob Jordan in Atlanta.

__TIMELINE OF EVENTS__

__By The Associated Press__

__7:15 a.m.__

Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen says the suspect in a shooting that killed nine people was at a historic black church attending a meeting and stayed for almost an hour before gunfire erupted.

Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen gave the details at a Thursday morning news conference. He didn't elaborate. At the news conference, he also identified the victims of the Wednesday church night shooting as six females and three males. He says names won't be released until families are notified.

The suspect is described as a white man thought to be in his early 20s. Mullen says the suspect is a "very dangerous individual."

Earlier, Mullen said he had no reason to think the suspect has left the Charleston area, but is distributing information about him and the vehicle around the country.

__7:05 a.m.__

Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen says the victims of a shooting at a historic black church were six females and three males.

At a news conference Thursday, Mullen did not give other details about the victims. He says names will not be released until families are notified.

The Wednesday night shooting is being called a hate crime. The suspect is described as a white man thought to be in his early 20s. Mullen says the suspect is a "very dangerous individual." Mullen urged people to call police about the suspect and not pursue him or his vehicle on their own.

Earlier, Mullen said he had no reason to think the suspect has left the Charleston area, but is distributing information about the suspect and the vehicle around the country.

__6:10 a.m.__

Police say they have surveillance video of a possible suspect and vehicle in the shooting deaths of nine people at a historic black church in downtown Charleston that's being called a hate crime.

Police Chief Greg Mullen met with reporters early Thursday to distribute the video. Mullen said he couldn't give a specific make and model of the vehicle because they could not be certain from the video.

The suspect is described as a white man thought to be in his early 20s. Mullen said he had no reason to think the suspect has left the Charleston area, but is distributing information about the suspect and the vehicle around the country.

Mullen said police consider the shooting a hate crime. The FBI and state police are helping in the search.

__3:35 a.m. (EDT)__

Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen says the FBI will be involved in the investigation of a shooting at a historic black church that killed nine and is being called a hate crime.

Mullen said the FBI would aid the investigation while speaking at a news conference that was also attended by FBI Special Agent in Charge David A. Thomas.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford says that among those killed at Emanuel AME Church was the church's pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney.

Authorities are still searching for the shooter, who's described as a white male in his early 20s.

__3 a.m. (EDT)__

A South Carolina legislative leader says the church's pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, is among those killed in a shooting at a historic black church in downtown Charleston that authorities are calling a hate crime.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford says Pinckney was killed along with eight others in the Wednesday night shooting at Emanuel AME Church.

Authorities are still searching for the shooter, who's described as a white male in his early 20s.

__1 a.m. (EDT)__

Charleston police say nine people have been killed in a shooting at a historic black church in what authorities intend to investigate as a hate crime.

Police Chief Greg Mullen says eight people were found dead Wednesday at Emanuel AME Church and another person died later at the hospital.

Mullen says a prayer meeting was going on at the church at the time of the shooting.

The shooter, described as a white male, was not yet in custody.

__12:45 a.m. (EDT)__

Mayor Joseph P. Riley has confirmed to The Associated Press that police have told him nine are dead in a shooting at a historic black church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.

Riley said he will release more details shortly at a news conference with Charleston police.

Police were still looking for the suspect in the Wednesday night shooting at Emanuel AME Church.

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__12:30 a.m. (EDT)__

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has responded to the shooting in downtown Charleston.

"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," she said in a statement early Thursday morning.

Police were still searching for a white male suspect.

__12:09 a.m. (EDT)__

The Post and Courier newspaper reports that Mayor Joe Riley has confirmed there are fatalities in a shooting that occurred at the site of a church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.

Riley called the Wednesday night shooting "an unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy."

An Associated Press reporter on the scene said police were moving members of the media on the site back because of an "imminent" threat.

GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush has canceled Thursday events in the area because of the shooting.