2015 — June 17, Violence — Mass Shooting, AME Church, Charleston, SC — 9

— 9  CNN. “Charleston church shooting: 9 killed in what officials call a hate crime.” 6-18-2015.

 

June 18, CNN: “A man in his early 20s…is suspected of killing nine people after he entered the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday, June 17…
“A woman who survived the shooting says the gunman said he was letting her live so that she could tell people what happened…

 

“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….

 

“The white man spent an hour in a prayer meeting at the historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday night before he opened fire…

 

“Then the man escaped onto the streets of the city’s historic downtown, an area normally jammed with tourists….

 

“Eight churchgoers died at the scene; a ninth at a hospital, police said. Among them is the pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney…

 

“There were 13 people inside the church when the shooting happened — the shooter, the nine people who were killed and three survivors…

 

“…six females and three males were killed…

 

“Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church has been a presence in Charleston since 1816, when African-American members of Charleston’s Methodist Episcopal Church formed their own congregation after a dispute over burial grounds. It was burned to the ground at one point, but rebuilt. Throughout its history, it overcame obstacle after obstacle — destroyed by an earthquake, banned by the state. But its church members persevered, making it the largest African-American church in terms of seating space in Charleston today.

 

Source

 

CNN (Ralph Ellis, Ed Payne and Ashley Killough). “Charleston church shooting: 9 killed in what officials call a hate crime.” 6-18-2015. Accessed 6-18-2015 at: http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/18/us/charleston-south-carolina-shooting/