– ‘Broken’ –
Members of the historic church’s mainly black congregation, many of them elderly, had gathered Wednesday for a Bible study meeting when the shooter walked into the building, sat for about an hour, then opened fire.
Sylvia Johnson, a relative of one of the victims, told CNN a survivor had told her that the gunman had made a racist rant during the attack.
Johnson said one of the victims tried to talk the shooter out of more killings after he opened fire.
“He said ‘No, you’ve raped our women and you’re taking over the country. I have to do what I have to do,’” she told CNN.
Johnson also said the shooter told the victims he left survivors so they could tell the story of the shooting.
Three men and six women were killed, and more people were wounded. Among the dead was the church’s pastor, 41-year-old Clementa Pinckney, who also was a Democratic state senator known to Obama.
The other victims were Cynthia Hurd, 54; high-school track coach Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; barber Tywanza Sanders, 26; church worker Ethel Lance, 70; church member Susie Jackson, 87; Reverend DePayne Middleton, 49; vicar’s wife Myra Thompson, 59; and Reverend Daniel Simmons, 74.
“The heart and soul of South Carolina was broken,” tearful state Governor Nikki Haley said.
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