By William Oyo-Ita 18 June 2015
A gunman remained at large Thursday morning after nine people were shot and killed in Charleston, South Carolina, during a Bible study session at one of the nation’s oldest and most prominent African-American churches, authorities said.
According to the church’s website, Emanuel AME Church — often referred to as ‘Mother Emanuel’ — is the oldest AME church in the south and has one of the largest black congregations south of Baltimore, Maryland.
The church played an important role in the state’s history, including the slavery era and the Civil Rights movement.
“This is a hate crime,” Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said early Thursday near the scene at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Among the victims was the church’s pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, 42, a Democratic member of the state Senate, two sources told NBC News.
Mullen described the suspect as a slender 21-year-old white man with sandy blond hair, wearing a gray sweatshirt or hoodie, jeans and Timberland boots. A reward will be offered later Thursday, he said.
Mullen described the suspect as a slender 21-year-old white man with sandy blond hair, wearing a gray sweatshirt or hoodie, jeans and Timberland boots. A reward will be offered later Thursday, he said.
At least six ambulances were seen in the area of the shooting.
Charleston police spokesman Charles Francis said the shooting occurred about 9 p.m. ET. The Rev. Norvel Goff, presiding elder of the Edisto District of the state conference of the AME Church, said a prayer vigil would be held at noon Thursday.
Known as “Mother Emanuel,” the church is the oldest AME church in the South, having been founded in 1816 under the leadership of abolitionist minister Morris Brown, the second bishop of the AME Church in the U.S. The Gothic Revival-style church is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Known as “Mother Emanuel,” the church is the oldest AME church in the South, having been founded in 1816 under the leadership of abolitionist minister Morris Brown, the second bishop of the AME Church in the U.S. The Gothic Revival-style church is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Rev. Thomas Dixon, a pastor with the activist group People United to Take Back Our Community, that a Bible study session likely would have been in progress, as is common in the African-American church “on any given Wednesday night.”
