Church gunman 'deserves death'

Church gunman 'deserves death'

Police lead accused murderer Dylann Roof, 21, into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina following his capture. (Reuters Photo)
Police lead accused murderer Dylann Roof, 21, into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina following his capture. (Reuters Photo)

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — The white gunman charged with killing nine people during a shooting spree at a Charleston church should get the death penalty, South Carolina's governor said on Friday.

"We will absolutely want him to have the death penalty," Gov Nikki Haley said.

Dylann Storm Roof is accused of Wednesday night's hate-crime shooting during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. The African-American victims included a state senator who was also the church's minister.

President Barack Obama has called the tragedy yet another example of damage caused by guns in America. The city's mayor described the shooting at the church as an act of "pure, pure concentrated evil".

Roof had complained that "blacks were taking over the world", an acquaintance of the 21-year-old said.

Joey Meek, a former friend who reconnected with Roof a few weeks ago, said that while they got drunk on vodka, Roof declared that "someone needed to do something about it for the white race".

Police captured Roof in North Carolina after a motorist spotted him at a traffic light on her way to work.

Surveillance video showed the gunman entering the church, and he initially didn't appear threatening, Charleston County Coroner Rae Wilson said.

"The suspect entered the group and was accepted by them, as they believed that he wanted to join them in this Bible study," she said. Then, "he became very aggressive and violent".

Meek called the FBI after recognising Roof in the video, down to the stained sweatshirt he wore while playing videogames in Meek's home the morning of the attack.

During their reunion a few weeks ago, Roof said he had bought a .45-calibre Glock pistol and that he had "a plan", Meek said. Meek said it scared him enough that he took the gun out of Roof's car and hid it in his house until the next day.

On his Facebook page, Roof displayed the flags of defeated white-ruled regimes, posing with a Confederate flags plate on his car and wearing a jacket with stitched-on flag patches from apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia, which is now black-led Zimbabwe.

It's not clear whether Roof had any connection to the 16 white supremacist organisations operating in South Carolina. His police record includes misdemeanour drug and trespassing charges.

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