The FBI has identified the shooting suspect who allegedly opened fire on an African American church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday night, killing 9 people.
The alleged shooter is Dylann Storm Roof, a 21-year-old white male from the Columbia area, according to local news station WISTV. A manhunt is still underway to find him.
Roof is out on bond for charges related to drugs and trespassing, according to an editor for The Post and Courier. A mug shot for his trespassing arrest can be viewed here.
READ: In Facebook Photo, Charleston Suspect Wears Flags Of Racist African States
The alleged shooter reportedly said, “I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go,” according to a witness interviewed by NBC News.
.@FBI confirms that Dylann Roof, 21, of #Columbia area is suspect in #CharlestonShooting. #chsnews pic.twitter.com/FFYhF1CwYz
— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) June 18, 2015
Breaking: Suspect named in #CharlestonShooting Dylan Storm Roof pic.twitter.com/2IeffUCfGV
— SPLC (@splcenter) June 18, 2015
Roof is currently out on bond in connection with recent arrests on drug, trespassing charges. #chsnews
— Glenn Smith (@glennsmith5) June 18, 2015
Update:
Reuters reports that the uncle of the 21-year-old suspect said Roof’s father gave him a gun for his birthday, a .45-caliber pistol. The uncle, Carson Cowles, came forward when he recognized the photo police distributed and described his nephew as “quiet and soft-spoken.”
“Nobody in my family had seen anything like this coming,” Cowles told Reuters. “I said, if it is him, and when they catch him, he’s got to pay for this.”
Update:
Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced on Thursday that Roof has been taken into custody. “Now that we have someone in custody, we will be conducting as full and as thorough an investigation rising out of that circumstance building on the cooperative work that we have with our state and local partners in South Carolina,” Lynch said.