Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white supremacist accused of murdering nine black churchgoers at an historic church in Charleston, South Carolina, was captured Thursday morning, ending an extensive 14-hour search by federal and local law enforcement. Roof’s arrest brings some relief to a city and country on edge, following yet another mass shooting.
Roof’s Facebook page, which has been deleted, showed a photo of him dressed in a black jacket adorned with symbols of the racist white regimes that ruled Rhodesia and South Africa.
Dalton Tyler, Roof’s roommate, told ABC News that Roof spoke of starting a civil war and that he advocated racial separatism. “He was big into segregation and other stuff. He said he wanted to start a civil war. He said he was going to do something like that and then kill himself,” Tyler said.
Scott Roof, who identified himself as Dylann Roof’s cousin, told me over the telephone that “Dylann was normal until he started listening to that white power music stuff.” He also claimed that “he kind of went over the edge when a girl he liked starting dating a black guy two years back.”
This scenario recalls a manifesto written by Elliot Rodger, who on May 23, 2014 gunned down six people in Isla Vista, California: “How could an inferior, ugly black boy be able to get a white girl and not me?”
“Dylann liked her,” Scott Roof said. “The black guy got her. He changed. I don’t know if we would be here if not …” Roof then abruptly hung up the phone.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Roof’s family had grown concerned over the last two months as his racist views started to boil over. “He apparently told people that he was involved in groups, racist groups,” said a woman who identified herself as the mother of Roof’s former stepmother. “He turned into a loner in the last couple of years and no one knew why. He just fell off the grid somehow.”
Roof’s uncle Charles Cowles told Reuters that Roof’s father, Ben, gave the alleged killer a .45 caliber pistol for his birthday earlier this year. Police have not disclosed what sort of firearm was used in the shootings.
Roof was captured four hours away from Charleston, in Shelby, North Carolina, after a local florist spotted his car on the highway and alerted authorities.
Meanwhile, Mashable obtained a SnapChat video that was recorded just moments before Roof allegedly opened fire on his victims. The short clip shows a Bible study group sitting around a table. At the far end is a white male who resembles Roof.
The video was taken by Tywanza Sanders, 26, a recent college graduate who was among the nine people killed Wednesday night.
The city of Charleston has multiple vigils planned this evening to remember those who were gunned down.
“If we stay silent,” South Carolina congressman Jim Clyburn told a memorial service yesterday, “they win.”
“They must not win.”
They gave him bond. What?
I hope he gets, there should be an army of nikkas waiting outside of the jail if he makes it
what's happening?fukk this judge
what's happening?
This kid should have listened to his heart and not his twisted mind.
My condolences to all families affected.
This is NOT how white people act.
This is not a race issue or even a gun issue.
This is a mental issue.
This is NOT how white people act.
This is the fukking problem right here. White people think every race act a certain way and anyone who breaks their notion of reality is an anomaly
White people are wholesome good ol boys who love their country. One of them commits a crime? Mental Illness!
Black people are racebaiters and criminals who live off the government while listening to hip hop. One of them speaks well? He's different!
Middle Eastern people are all part of this huge elaborate terrorist cell and could strike at any moment!
Asians are smart as hell and despite immigrating to this country at higher rates than Mexicans their quiet and out of the way.
Mexicans are lazy, job stealing, border hopping, drug peddlers who want to turn America into a third world country while making Spanish the primary language.. One of them owns a business? He got it through illegal government aid!
This is how white people think and it's sickening.
this mental illness narrative is more sinister than it appears, it's used to illustrate that white people only do these things when they're basically a defective product, Black people don't fall under the mental illness umbrella to demonstrate that we're innately violent people and that kind of behavior is normal for us.
maybe she is, but an extension of white supremacy (the media) gives white people a pass for being "crazy", they are defective, not representative of all white people, they have a mental illness, they require help and rehabilitation so they can return to normal, they are "lone wolves".
when a black person is crazy, it's to be expected, "business as usual for those kinds", "chicago", "detroit", "just look at the stats for Black on Black crime and you'll see that her behavior is not out of the ordinary"
we are not white and as much as y'all claim we're thinking like white people, the guilty parties are the people who think they can do the same shyt white people do and get away with it or get similar treatment. that's just pure insanity.
WHY ROOF WANTED TO BE CAUGHT IN SHELBY, NC. "He wanted to start a revolution"
Dylan Roof being escorted out of Shelby, NC
Thomas Dixon Jr, Author of "The Clansman," which later inspired "The Birth of a Nation," Born in Shelby, NC. Dixon Jr. was a hero to Roof, who said in the church, "I'm here to kill blacks."
"The Clansman" Which inspired "The Birth of a Nation."
I hope he gets, there should be an army of nikkas waiting outside of the jail if he makes it
Was a bond hearing on the gun charge. Judge came out angry talking bout the killers parents are victims too and their great people, all while the actual victims families were in the room. Then gave him 1mil bond, but he still will be in custody because that judge cant grant bail for the murder chargeswhat's happening?
these crackers need to start dropping dead.This wasn't about race and had nothing to do with racism though.