- Thu Jun 18, 2015 10:44 am
#462511
Nine people died in an "unfathomable" act of violence at a historic predominantly black Charleston, South Carolina, church Wednesday evening when a gunman opened fire during a prayer service in what police describe as a "hate crime."
Charleston police Chief Greg Mullen said eight people were found dead inside the church after the shooting unfolded around 9 p.m. Two other people were rushed to the hospital, where one died, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since 12 people were killed inside the Washington Navy Yard in September 2013.
The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, church pastor and a South Carolina state senator, was among the dead.
"It is senseless," Mullen said at a news conference Wednesday evening. "It is unfathomable that somebody would walk into a church when people are having a prayer meeting and take their lives."
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a hate crime investigation.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-respond ... d=31845305
Charleston police Chief Greg Mullen said eight people were found dead inside the church after the shooting unfolded around 9 p.m. Two other people were rushed to the hospital, where one died, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since 12 people were killed inside the Washington Navy Yard in September 2013.
The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, church pastor and a South Carolina state senator, was among the dead.
"It is senseless," Mullen said at a news conference Wednesday evening. "It is unfathomable that somebody would walk into a church when people are having a prayer meeting and take their lives."
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a hate crime investigation.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-respond ... d=31845305