President Barack Obama has expressed anger, sadness and heartache at the church shooting that left nine dead in Charleston, South Carolina.
He says Wednesday night’s shooting inside a historic Black church shows the need for a national reckoning on gun violence in America.
The president said that too often, he’s had to come to microphone to mourn the deaths of innocents killed by those who had no trouble getting their hands on a gun.
“At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries,” Obama said.
Obama says he and Vice President Joe Biden telephoned Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. to express condolences.
The president says he and first lady Michelle Obama knew several parishioners there, including the church’s pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, among those killed.
Obama spoke from the White House briefing room before departing on a weekend fundraising trip to California.
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12:27 p.m.
Officials say they don’t know the motive for the man suspected of killing nine people inside a historic Black church in Charleston, but the mayor calls it “pure, pure concentrated evil.”
Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. made the remarks Thursday about the Wednesday night shooting that officials have called a hate crime.
Police chief Greg Mullen says suspect 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof was arrested Thursday in his car on the road in Shelby, N.C. Mullen says Roof had a weapon at the time, but officials wouldn’t give other details.
Mullen also says it’s unknown whether the shooter intentionally left behind any survivors at the church. Mullen has said Roof was at the church for nearly an hour for a prayer meeting before the shooting.
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11:48 a.m.
The police chief in Charleston says the White man suspected of killing nine people inside a historic Black church has been apprehended in North Carolina.
Chief Greg Mullen says 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof was arrested Thursday in a car on the road in Shelby, North Carolina. He says Roof was cooperative with the officer who stopped him. Local police in Shelby made the arrest. Mullen says Roof was in the car when arrested.
Mullen says a citizen tip led police to Roof’s car.
Mullen also says officials believe Roof acted alone.
Mullen said previously that Roof stayed at a prayer meeting for nearly an hour on Wednesday night before he opened fire, killing three males and six females at the church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Among the dead was state Sen. Clementa Pinckney. Other victims’ names haven’t been released.
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11:32 a.m.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says a suspect is in custody in the fatal shooting inside a historic Black church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
“I can confirm that there is a suspect in custody,” she said.
She gave no other details.
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