Charleston shooting: Suspect under arrest

Charleston (South Carolina), June 19: The Charleston shooting suspect-Dylann Roof- is under arrest. According to police, Roof was responsible for gunning down 9 people during a prayer service at the historic African-American church. A Snapchat video of the classroom showed Roof sitting with other members, not showing any signs of agitation, even minutes before the carnage.

In the rampage, eight died instantly, while the ninth one died in the hospital. Six of the killed were women and the rest were men, including the politically active pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney.

[Read: Nine people killed in shooting at South Carolina historic church]

Shocked by the shooting, authorities were surprised that the killings happened in a house of prayer. Mayor Joe Riley said,"People in prayer Wednesday evening. A ritual, a coming together, praying, worshiping God. An awful person to come in and shoot them is inexplicable."

Narrating the timeline, the friend (who is a survivor) of the pastor's cousin said,"My cousin, being the nice, kind, welcoming person he is, he welcomed him to his congregation, welcomed him to the Bible study, and he sat there for an hour ... At the conclusion of the Bible study, they just heard just a ringing of a loud noise, and it was just awful from what I heard.

When the son of the friend pleaded with the shooter to stop, the gunman said,"No, you've raped our women, and you are taking over the country ... I have to do what I have to do.' And he shot the young man."

Incidentally, the gunman before leaving asked an elderly person whether he shot her and she said no. To which he replied,"And he said good, because we need a survivor because I'm going to kill myself."

OneIndia News