South Carolina Shooter Drawn To White Supremacy

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, U.S./Canada, World News Friday, June 19th, 2015

(Reuters) His uncle worried he was cooped up in his room too much. The few images of him found easily online suggest he had a fascination with white supremacy, publicly embracing its symbols. And for his birthday this year, his father bought the young man a pistol, the uncle said.

Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of having fatally shot nine people at a historic African-American church in South Carolina. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Wednesday’s attack as a hate crime, motivated by racism or other prejudice.

Those who know Roof described a withdrawn, drifting young man. Roof himself told a police officer who was arresting him earlier this year for illegal possession of prescription painkillers that his parents were pressuring him to get a job.

Roof’s uncle, Carson Cowles, recalled telling his sister, the suspect’s mother, several years ago that he was worried about Roof, and that the “quiet, soft-spoken boy” was too introverted.

“I said he was like 19 years old, he still didn’t have a job, a driver’s license or anything like that and he just stayed in his room a lot of the time,” Cowles said in a telephone interview.

Reuters