Police Chief Greg Mullen said he
believed the attack at the Emanuel AME Church was a hate crime, and
police were looking for a white male in his early 20s. Mullen said the
scene was chaotic when police arrived, and the officers thought they had
the suspect tracked with a police dog, but he got away.
"We
will put all effort, we will put all resources and we will put all of
our energy into finding this individual who committed this crime
tonight," he said.
The FBI will aid the
investigation, Mullen told a news conference that was attended by FBI
Special Agent in Charge David A. Thomas.
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," 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."
State House Minority leader Todd
Rutherford told The Associated Press that the 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
age 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," Rutherford, D-Columbia, said. "He was always out doing work
either for his parishioners or his constituents. He touched everybody."
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.
In a statement, Gov. Nikki Haley asked South Carolinians to pray for the
victims and their families and decried violence at religious
institutions.
"We'll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another," Haley said.
Soon after Wednesday night's shooting, a group of pastors huddled together praying in a circle across the street.
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.
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.