US shooting: Suspect confesses, says he seeks race war

Dylann Roof admits he did it, two law enforcement officials said — shooting and killing nine people he’d sat with for Bible study at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, US.

But why? To start a race war, Roof told investigators, according to one of the officials.

Others have given a glimpse into the twisted motivations of Roof, who is white, to shoot up the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Sylvia Johnson told CNN that a survivor told her he’d answered pleas to stop by saying, “No, you’ve raped our women, and you are taking over the country … I have to do what I have to do.”

His roommate told ABC News that Roof was “big into segregation.” And the Berkeley County, South Carolina, government tweeted a picture of him wearing a jacket with flags from apartheid-era South Africa and nearby Rhodesia, a former British colony that was ruled by a white minority until it became independent in 1980.

ADVERTISEMENT

By telling authorities his aim, Roof admitted he attacked unarmed civilians for political purposes in an act of terror.

What led the 21-year-old South Carolinian to adopt this sick reasoning and take such actions Wednesday night? Did anyone else help him or even know about his plans? And what is his general mental state? Are all major, looming questions. Another is what American society should or will do now, if anything, to prevent similar tragedies.