The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Man arrested over US church shooting spree
FBI alerted after friend recognised him from surveillance images
A man has been arrested over the killing of nine people, including the pastor, at a prayer meeting in a church in Charleston.
Dylann Storm Roof, 21, stayed for nearly an hour inside the church on Wednesday night before shooting six females and three males at a prayer meeting, Police Chief Greg Mullen said.
Roof put up no resistance after a citizen tip led police to his car on Thursday morning in Shelby, North Carolina, Mr Mullen said.
“Acts like this one have no place in our country,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who announced a Justice Department hate crime investigation.
“They have no place in a civilised society.”
The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church’s pastor, state Sen Clementa Pinckney, was among those killed. Sen Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two who was elected to the state House at 23, making him the youngest member of the House at the time.
Roof’s childhood friend, Joey Meek, alerted the FBI after recognising him in a surveillance camera image that was widely circulated, said Mr Meek’s mother, Kimberly Kozny.
Roof had worn the same sweatshirt while playing Xbox video games in their home recently.
“I don’t know what was going through his head,” Ms Kozny said.
President Barack Obama, who knew Sen Pinckney, said these shootings have to stop. “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,” he said.