Police arrest suspect after fatal Charleston church shooting

A man accused of killing nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, was arrested on Thursday, said US officials, who are investigating the attack as a hate crime.

Law enforcement officials caught alleged gunman Dylann Roof, whose rampage on Wednesday came in a year that has seen months of racially charged protests across the United States over killings of black men.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch told reporters that a suspect had been taken into custody, hours after the shooting.

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A man who identified himself as Mr Roof’s uncle said he had recently been given a .45-calibre handgun as a birthday present by his father and that the 21-year-old had seemed adrift.

The victims, six females and three males, included Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who was the church’s pastor and a Democratic member of the state Senate named Clementa Pinckney, according to colleagues.

President Barack Obama has expressed anger and sadness over the shootings.

He the incident showed the need for a national reckoning on gun violence in America.

Mr Roof had sat with churchgoers inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church for about an hour on Wednesday before opening fire, Police Chief Gregory Mullen said.

He reloaded five times even as victims pleaded with him to stop, a relative of Ms Pinckney’s said.

“To have an awful person come in and shoot them is inexplicable, obviously the most intolerable and unbelievable act possible,” Charleston Mayor Joe Riley told reporters. “The only reason someone could walk into a church to shoot people praying is out of hate.”

1963 bombing

The shooting recalled the 1963 bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four girls and galvanized the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The Charleston church is one of the largest and oldest black congregations in the South, its website says. It has its roots in the early 19th century, and was founded in part by a freed slave who was later executed for organising a revolt, according to the US National Park Service.

The community reacted with shock and grief after Wednesday’s shooting.

“I’m heartbroken,” said Shona Holmes (28) a bystander at the aftermath of the shooting. “It’s just hurtful to think that someone would come in and shoot people in a church. If you’re not safe in church, where are you safe?”

Mr Obama said that too often, he has had to come to a microphone to mourn the deaths of innocents killed by those who had little difficulty getting their hands on guns.

“At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries,” Mr Obama said.

The president said he and vice-president Joe Biden telephoned Charleston mayor Joseph P Riley jnr to express condolences.

The president said he and and his wife Michelle knew several parishioners at the church, including the pastor, state senator Clementa Pinckney, who was among those killed.

Mr Obama spoke from the White House briefing room before departing on a weekend fundraising trip to California.

Meanwhile, Michelle Obama and her elder daughter Malia visited Milan’s Duomo cathedral in Italy on Thursday, where an official travelling with her said they lit candles in memory of the victims of the shooting in South Carolina.

The first lady and her daughter were seen entering the Gothic-inspired cathedral on the unannounced stop.

Ms Obama was dressed in black with dark glasses, while Malia wore a white blouse with black trousers. Mrs Obama made no comment and issued no statement.

‘Hard truths’

Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that the US must face “hard truths” about race and gun violence.

“We have to face hard truths about race, violence, guns and division,” Ms Clinton said at the annual National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in Las Vegas.

“How many innocent people in our country from little children, church members to movie theatre attendees, how many people do we need to see cut down before we act?” Ms Clinton asked.

Ms Clinton was responding to the shooting in Charleston. She was also referring to the 20 children and six adults killed during the 2012 shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, and a rampage at a Colorado cinema the same year that left 12 dead.

“So as we mourn and as our hearts break a little more, we will not forsake those who have been victimised by gun violence, this time we have to find answers together,” Ms Clinton said.

“I pledge to you I will work with you,” Ms Clinton told the room of elected officials. “Let’s unite in partnership, not just to talk but to act.”

Agencies