A frantic manhunt was on in South Carolina, hours after a "horrible scoundrel" opened fire in an historic African-American church in downtown Charleston, killing nine, including the prominent pastor and state senator, during a regular prayer meeting.
Police immediately branded the shooting spree, which began just after 9 p.m. Wednesday, a hate crime, and released surveillance images of a white man fleeing the scene at 180-year-old Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church after the horrific incident, which left six women and three men dead.
"This is an unspeakable and unfathomable act by somebody filled with hate and a deranged mind," Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley said in a Thursday morning press conference. He vowed that authorities were "committed to finding this horrible scoundrel."
"This is an unspeakable and unfathomable act by somebody filled with hate and a deranged mind."A five-year-old girl reportedly survived the attack by following her grandmother's instructions to play dead, and a woman was allowed to leave to tell what had happened. It was not immediately known what message she was supposed to convey.
- Charleston, S.C., Mayor Joseph Riley
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