Charleston shooter had list of targets and more ammunition

MIAMI: The self- described white supremacist accused of killing nine African American churchgoers in Charleston had a gun, more ammunition and a list of churches in his car, jurors in his federal death penalty trial heard Monday.

Dylann Roof was ruled unfit to purchase the gun he used to kill the parishioners.

But by the time the store that sold him the weapon was informed, it was already too late to prevent the June 17, 2015 attack, the court heard.

In his car, Roof had a handwritten note listing six churches in Charleston's black community, including the target of his attack, as well as the Glock .45 semi-automatic handgun and eight ammunition magazines, investigators said.

Investigators also found a Confederate battle flag, a symbol of the US South in times of slavery, as well as a sweater emblazoned with a large ‘88,' an abbreviation of the Nazi salute ‘ Heil Hitler.'

Roof's journal, uncovered in his car, included condemnation of racial integration, Jews and homosexuality.

The reclusive youth, who glorified Nazism and apartheid, does not contest the facts and has so far not expressed remorse over his massacre at ‘ Mother Emanuel,' the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the US South.

The FBI had previously made the stunning admission last year that Roof should have been denied the gun purchase, citing a breakdown in the background check system and paperwork confusion. — AFP