<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

New charges for Charleston shooting suspect

The Columbian
Published:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The man accused of killing nine people attending Bible study at a historic black church in Charleston has been indicted on three new charges of attempted murder, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Dylann Storm Roof, 21, had been indicted on the state charges, stemming from people who survived the June 17 attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said in a news release.

Roof was arrested last month and charged with nine counts of murder, one for each person killed. He also faces a weapons charge.

Roof’s defense attorney did not immediately return a message Tuesday seeking comment. Roof is next expected in court in October on the murder charges, and online court records did not show any additional dates for the new charges.

A state judge already has been appointed. Federal authorities have not said whether they will pursue hate crime charges against Roof.

The news of the new charges comes as South Carolina state lawmakers move closer toward possibly removing the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds. Roof, who is white, appeared in photos waving Confederate flags and burning or desecrating U.S. flags, and purportedly wrote of fomenting racial violence. Survivors told police he hurled racial insults during the attack.

State senators gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would remove the flag from its pole in front of the Statehouse. That sends the proposal to the House, where it faces a less certain future.

Loading...