Dylann Storm Roof (born April 3, 1994) is an American white supremacist and mass murderer convicted for perpetrating the Charleston church shooting on June 17, 2015, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. [89], The judge, Charleston County chief magistrate James "Skip" Gosnell Jr., caused controversy at the bond hearing with his statement that, alongside the dead victims and their families, "there are victims on this young man's side of the family […] Nobody would have ever thrown them into the whirlwind of events that they are being thrown into. Despite this, Roof would not have been able to legally purchase firearms under a law that barred "unlawful user[s] of or addicted to any controlled substance," such as the Suboxone, from owning firearms. Dylann Storm Roof Told Black Neighbor He Planned On Killing", "Dylann Roof: Racist jokes and black friends -- a man of contradictions", "South Carolina Lutheran Pastor: Dylann Roof Was Church Member, His Family Prays For Victims", "Friend of Dylann Roof says suspect planned attack on College of Charleston", "EXCLUSIVE: Sharper picture emerges of suspected Charleston shooter Dylann Roof", "Judge grants $25,000 bond for Joey Meek", "South Carolina massacre suspect Dylann Roof had apparent interest in white supremacy", "Dylann Storm Roof arrested in North Carolina", "Police: Dylann Roof arrested for trespassing, drug possession at Columbiana Centre", "Dylann Roof, Suspect in Charleston Shooting, Flew the Flags of White Power", "EXCLUSIVE: Was accused SC racial church killer Roof planning bigger death spree? It was obvious that Zimmerman was in the right. [16][17], A former high school classmate said that despite Roof's racist comments, some of his friends in school were black. [19][22], One image from his Facebook page showed him wearing a jacket decorated with two obsolete flags used as emblems among American white supremacist movements, those of Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) and apartheid-era South Africa. He was not charged, as it was not illegal in South Carolina to possess a firearm grip. [17][20][31], According to James Comey, speaking in July 2015, Roof's March arrest was at first written as a felony, which would have required an inquiry into the charge during a firearms background examination. [5] On March 31, 2017, Roof agreed to plead guilty in South Carolina state court to all state charges pending against him—nine counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony—to avoid a second death sentence. (CNN)At least 40 Confederate symbols have been removed from across the US since George Floyd's death in May, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. One of the charts was expected to be a timeline of the case as drafted by the agent responsible for investigating the shooting. Although Roof's contacts did not appear to have encouraged the massacre,[65] the investigation was said to have widened to also include other persons of interest. "[154], In January 2020, it was reported that Roof was appealing his death sentence. [136][137][138][139] On December 5, 2016, Gergel allowed Roof to hire back his lawyers for the guilt phase of his trial. [117], Jury selection started on September 26, 2016. [63] On August 30, 2019, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the survivors and families of the deceased can sue the Federal government. [34] Roof was unemployed[35] and living in largely African-American Eastover at the time of the attack. When asked about it, Roof informed the officer that he wanted to purchase an AR-15, but did not have enough money to do so. [91], On July 7, 2015, Roof was indicted on three new charges of attempted murder, one for each person who survived the shooting. [14] When he was in middle school, he exhibited an interest in smoking marijuana, having once been caught spending money on it. [64], One week prior to the shooting, two of his friends tried to hide the gun after Roof claimed he was going to kill people. As he was already facing the death penalty in South Carolina, Roof became the first person in U.S. history to face both a federal and state death penalty at the same time. His final words, "I can't breathe," became a rallying cry for those fighting against police brutality and racial injustice -- an injustice many say is reinforced by Confederate symbols. [49][60], Around August 31, 2016, District Judge Richard Gergel ordered that an in camera hearing be held on September 1. [18], According to a 2009 affidavit filed for Mann's divorce, Roof exhibited "obsessive compulsive behavior" as he grew up, obsessing over germs and insisting on having his hair cut in a certain style. [112] The judge denied that motion after the prosecution (whose consent is required for a bench trial under the rules that apply to federal criminal proceedings) opposed Roof's request. The group remained active as of a July 2020 exposé in the Huffington Post, five years after the Charleston church shooting. [31] He also often claimed that "blacks were taking over the world". In Richmond, Virginia, Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the immediate removal of several Confederate statues in a video to the public on July 1. During the questioning, authorities found a bottle of what was later admitted to be Suboxone, a narcotic that is used for treating either chronic pain or opiate-abuse addictions and that is abused as a recreational drug; Roof was arrested for a misdemeanor charge of drug possession. And on May 31, when protesters took matters into their own hands to remove a 115-year-old monument in Birmingham, Alabama, Mayor Randall Woodfin told demonstrators he would "finish the job" for them. When his sister planned to be married, he did not respond to her invitation to the event. And the conversation was reignited after white nationalists marched in 2017 to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a counterprotester was killed amid violent clashes between demonstrators. The ban was then extended for three additional years. [21], Prior to the attack, Roof was living alternately in Bennett's and Cowles' homes in downtown Columbia and Hopkins, respectively,[15][22][23] but was mostly raised by his stepmother Mann. He also made a list of churches and a "selection of victims", along with other writings. During a routine Bible study at the church, a white man about 21 years old, later identified as Roof, opened fire with a handgun, killing nine people. [66], Although the Council of Conservative Citizens took down its website on June 20 in the immediate wake of negative publicity,[52] its president, Earl Holt, stated that the organization was "hardly responsible" for Roof's actions. The 46-year-old Black man spent the last minutes of his life with an officer's knee pressed to his neck. [146], At a court hearing on December 28, 2016, Roof reiterated that he would proceed with the sentencing phase without attorneys, although Judge Gergel repeatedly warned him that it was not in his interests to do so. [50] While some photographs seemed to show Roof at home in his room, others were taken on an apparent tour of slavery-related historical sites in North and South Carolina, including Sullivan's Island, the largest slave disembarkation port in North America, four former plantations, two cemeteries (one for white Confederate soldiers, the other for slaves), and the Museum and Library of Confederate History in Greenville. [48], On August 23, 2016, federal prosecutors filed court documents announcing their intention to call thirteen expert witnesses at trial, including white supremacy experts who were expected to testify on Roof's "extremist ideology, including a belief in the need to use violence to achieve white supremacy." [83][84], Dylann Roof is the first person in U.S. history to have faced both a state and federal death penalty at the same time. [106][107] On April 10, 2017, Roof pleaded guilty to nine state counts of murder and was sentenced to nine consecutive sentences of life without parole. [82][86] He first appeared in Charleston County court by video conference at a bond hearing later that day. [148][149] Gergel wrote: "After fully considering all of the evidence presented, the court ruled from the bench that Defendant remains competent to stand trial and to self-represent. In the time in that span between 2015 and now, we have had a kind of consistent repetition of … [7][8][9] In a letter to the victims' families, Wilson said that the plea deal was "an insurance policy" in the event that Roof's federal death sentence were ever overturned, as it assures that Roof will die in prison.
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