WASHINGTON – Justice Department to seek death penalty in Charleston church shooting case; Attorney General cites "nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm."
Dylann Storm Roof, 21, stayed for nearly an hour inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church before shooting six women and three men at a prayer meeting back in June 2015, according to authorities.
Roof was arrested days later about 245 miles away from the shooting site, in Shelby, North Carolina.
A law enforcement official says witnesses told authorities the gunman stood up and said he was there "to shoot black people."
Former-state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, the church's pastor, 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.
Other lives lost included Cynthia Hurd, 54; Suzy Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70; the Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49; Tywanza Sanders, 26; the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; the Rev. Sharonda Singleton, 45; and Myra Thompson, 59.
Three people survived the shooting, including a woman who received a chilling message from the shooter.
"Her life was spared, and (she was) told, 'I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to spare you, so you can tell them what happened,'" Charleston NAACP president Dot Scott told CNN. She said she heard this from the victim's family members.