South Carolina officials are calling the Charleston church massacre a hate crime and have brought in federal authorities to help them hunt down the racist gunman who still remains at large today.
Last night’s mass shooting at the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a site of historical significance to the civil rights movement, took the lives of eight parishioners and their esteemed pastor -- none other than Clementa Pinckney, a state senator.
All of the individuals who were injured or killed in the vicious assault are believed to be African American, with three men and six woman now counted among the dead.
The famous black church they were attending is said to be the oldest in the South and has one of the largest African American congregations in the country.
It’s situated in the heart of downtown Charleston South Carolina and thus images of the lone shooter, a Caucasian male in his early twenties, was captured on various surveillance cameras in and around the building.
Police report that the sandy-haired young suspect attended an evening prayer service for about an hour before he opened fire on his victims.
They say he then fled in a dark vehicle which has “distinctive plates” but have not confirmed nor denied rumors that the “armed and dangerous” youth is a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The notorious hate group is reportedly very active in South Carolina, although the KKK has not claimed responsibility for the Charleston church massacre.
The brutal attack there comes at a time of growing racial tensions in the United States after a chain of police confrontations in a number of major cities have left some unarmed black men dead and others seriously harmed.
The federal government has jurisdiction over cases of police brutality as well as hate crimes, and is therefore involved now in the manhunt for last night’s white supremacist gunman.
Local, state and federal policing agencies, including the ATF and FBI, are scouring the city of Charleston on a theory he hasn’t strayed far from the area, and continue to process the crime scene, still cordoned off this morning.
They are additionally urging citizens to use caution while the shooter remains at large and to “not approach” him if sighted, but to phone 1-800-CALL-FBI or 911 instead.
"When people go out they should be vigilant," a law enforcement spokesman stressed today.
The unidentified killer is alleged to have “spared” one Mother Emanuel church attendee so that she would be able to “tell the world what happened.”
