06-18-2015, 06:15 AM
9 dead in Shooting at SC church
Taken from: http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-respond-...d=31845305
Nine people were killed in an "unfathomable" act of violence at a historic black Charleston, South Carolina church Wednesday evening when a gunman opened fire during a prayer service in what police believe is a hate crime.
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, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the US since 12 were killed inside the Washington Navy Yard in September 2013.
"It is senseless," Mullen said at a press conference this evening. "It is unfathomable that somebody would walk into a church when people are having a prayer meeting and take their lives."
Authorities have not released any of the victim's identities but confirmed that there were survivors who were inside the church at the time of the shooting. It was not clear how many survived.
"What we need right now is for everyone to come together and pray for these families," Mullen said.
The NAACP expressed its condolences for the families of the victims.
"The NAACP was founded to fight against racial hatred and we are outraged that 106 years later, we are faced today with another mass hate crime," said the group's president Cornell William Brooks. "There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture."
Mullen said that the FBI was on the scene and working with local authorities, as they would in any shooting of this "size and scope." Both Mullen and Riley said they believed it was a hate crime.
Taken from: http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-respond-...d=31845305
Nine people were killed in an "unfathomable" act of violence at a historic black Charleston, South Carolina church Wednesday evening when a gunman opened fire during a prayer service in what police believe is a hate crime.
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, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the US since 12 were killed inside the Washington Navy Yard in September 2013.
"It is senseless," Mullen said at a press conference this evening. "It is unfathomable that somebody would walk into a church when people are having a prayer meeting and take their lives."
Authorities have not released any of the victim's identities but confirmed that there were survivors who were inside the church at the time of the shooting. It was not clear how many survived.
"What we need right now is for everyone to come together and pray for these families," Mullen said.
The NAACP expressed its condolences for the families of the victims.
"The NAACP was founded to fight against racial hatred and we are outraged that 106 years later, we are faced today with another mass hate crime," said the group's president Cornell William Brooks. "There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture."
Mullen said that the FBI was on the scene and working with local authorities, as they would in any shooting of this "size and scope." Both Mullen and Riley said they believed it was a hate crime.