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Suspect in South Carolina deadly church shooting arrested

Thursday, 18 June 2015 3:17 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 18 June 2015 4:09 PM ]

Dylann Roof, 21, of Lexington, South Carolina, is the suspect in Wednesday's deadly shooting at the Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

The suspect in a shooting that killed 9 African Americans in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, has been captured by police following a massive manhunt.

Dylann Roof, 21, of Lexington, South Carolina, is the suspect in Wednesday's deadly shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, Lexington police said on Thursday.

US Law enforcement sources said Roof was arrested in Shelby, North Carolina.

"That awful person, that terrible human being, who would go into a place of worship where people were praying and kill them, is now in custody," Charleston Mayor Joe Riley confirmed.

Roof is white, slightly built and stands 5 feet, 9 inches tall (175 cm).

Police said he walked into the church and attended a meeting with the eventual victims before fatally shooting nine people, six females and three males.

Eight churchgoers died at the scene and a ninth later died at a hospital, police said.

The mayor and police of Charleston have described the deadly attack as a hate crime.

"The only reason someone would walk into a church and shoot people that were praying is hate," Riley said.

A woman who survived the attack said the gunman told her she could live to tell people what happened.

Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said Roof was taken into custody at a traffic stop in Shelby, and that there is no reason to believe other suspects were involved.

African-American state Senator Clementa Pinckney was among the dead.

Pinckney was first elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1997. He had served in the State Senate since 2000. He was the youngest African-American elected to the legislature.

The White House said President Barack Obama will make a statement on the incident around 11:45 am.

The shooting was reminiscent of the 1963 bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four girls and fueled the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

AHT/HRJ

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