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| Confusion as police gather outside the Church where 9 people where killed in Charleston,South CAROLINA. |
A white gunman has shot and killed nine people at Emmanuel African Methodist Church,an historic black church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, police say.
Describing the shooting as a "hate crime", local police chief Gregory Mullen said the suspect is a clean-shaven white man, aged about 21, who is still at large.
Charleston police chief Greg Mullen said that eight people were found dead inside the
church. Two other people were rushed to the hospital and one died.
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| Police seal off Road to Emmanuel Methodist church Charlesston,south carolina. |
"It is senseless. It is unfathomable that somebody would walk into a church when people are having a prayer meeting and take their lives," Mayor Joe Riley said at a press conference this evening.
Mullen said that the FBI is on the scene and working with local authorities, as they would in any shooting of this "size and scope" but both Mullen and Riley said they believed it was a hate crime.
"The only reason someone would walk into church and shoot people praying is hate," Riley said.
The shooting happened around 9 p.m. and police said they were looking for 21-year-old white man with sandy blond hair and a slender build wearing a gray hoodie, blue jeans and Timberland boots.
The shooting happened around 9 p.m. and police said they were looking for 21-year-old white man with sandy blond hair and a slender build wearing a gray hoodie, blue jeans and Timberland boots.
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| Rescue services..all in vain. |
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| Prayer for the dead.... |
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| Outside Emmanuel Church .Charleston. |
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| Police keep watch....Emmanuel Methodist Church Charleston. |
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| Mourners outside Church. |
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, built in 1891, is the oldest of it's kind in the South, according to their website. It is listed among the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places.
Outside the Courtyard Marriott, down the street from the church, a group of pastors gathered to pray.
"We need that peace, Lord," members of the prayer circle were heard saying. "We need that peace you talk about in your word."
"We need that peace, Lord," members of the prayer circle were heard saying. "We need that peace you talk about in your word."
A man in the prayer circle spoke to WCIV briefly after calling for answers.
"We're asking the community to just remain peaceful, but at the same time we want some answers as to how this happened and why," the man said.
"I'm just absolutely sick to my stomach right now. It's horrible," Lisa Phipps, who works across the street as a caterer, told NBC News.
"I just can't believe this is happening in my community," Phipps said. "That's a very active church. ... Their influence is wonderful. They do so much for the community.
"I can't imagine a human being doing something like this," she said.
The Rev. Thomas Dixon, a pastor with the activist group People United to Take Back Our Community, that a Bible study session likely would have been in progress, as is common in the African-American church "on any given Wednesday night."
source
Naija Blog
"I'm just absolutely sick to my stomach right now. It's horrible," Lisa Phipps, who works across the street as a caterer, told NBC News.
"I can't imagine a human being doing something like this," she said.
The Rev. Thomas Dixon, a pastor with the activist group People United to Take Back Our Community, that a Bible study session likely would have been in progress, as is common in the African-American church "on any given Wednesday night."
source
Naija Blog