By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--June 18, 2015
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I don't even know what to say in the course of presenting news like this. I suppose we just wait to learn what - if anything - might have been the motivation of the 21-year-old mass murderer. We don't know if he knew anyone there or had any sort of connection to the church or the pastor. We don't even know who he is, at least not for sure, as he remains at large. We just know he walked in and opened fire, and now nine people are dead, including the pastor, who was also a South Carolina state senator.Among the dead was the church's pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, 41, who had been a pastor since he was 18. Pinckney was the youngest African-American elected to the South Carolina legislature when he won office in 1996 at age 23 and had been a state senator since 2000. Soon after Wednesday night's shooting, a group of pastors huddled together praying in a circle across the street. Community organizer Christopher Cason told the Associated Press he felt certain the shootings were racially motivated. "I am very tired of people telling me that I don't have the right to be angry," Cason said. "I am very angry right now." Authorities said the shooting took place at approximately 9 p.m. local time. Police would not immediately confirm the identities of the victims. Mullen said there were survivors, but did not say how many, or how many were inside the church at the time of the shooting. Dot Scott, the president of the Charleston NAACP, told the Post and Courier newspaper that she had spoken with a female survivor who said the gunman walked into the church and briefly sat down before standing up and opening fire. Scott said the gunman told the woman he was letting her live so she could tell others what had happened. Police described the suspect as wearing a gray sweatshirt with blue jeans and Timberland boots. Approximately two hours after the shooting, a man matching the suspect's description was briefly detained near the shooting scene, but was later let go by police. The man, identified as 21-year-old . . . , told the Post and Courier he was walking out of a Shell gas station's convenience store when police forced him to get down on the ground and handcuffed him.
Outside Medical University Hospital, the area trauma center where the wounded were taken, Jon Quil Lance stepped away from the building to smoke a cigarette and think about his grandmother, Ethel Lance, who he’d heard was shot in the church. “I’m lost, I’m lost,” he said. “Granny was the heart of the family.” He said his grandmother had worked at the church for more than 30 years. “She’s a Christian, hardworking; I could call my granny for anything. I don’t have anyone else like that.” He said he didn’t know her condition. “I don’t even know if she’s alive now.” He threw his hands up. “I don’t even know if my grandmother is alive.” He paced up and down Ashley Avenue, and his thoughts gathered momentum. “What was this guy thinking? That dude shot a bunch of elderly people! Now people are going to be afraid to go to church. I don’t know what’s going to come of this. I’ll tell you this, I’m not the only one praying tonight.” At 12:45 a.m., as word spread about the deaths, Lance fell to the ground and sobbed. “Somebody better get that (expletive).” A friend cradled him at the hospital’s entrance. Officers ushered loved ones inside.This church has been around a very long time - so long that per the story, one of its founders tried to organize a slave revolt in 1822. We can't ignore the racial element of the story, although I detest the media's reflex of always making everything that happens about race if there's the slightest opportunity to do so. White-assailant-plus-black-victims is all they need to make it a racial story. It may very well be that racial hatred was the gunman's motivation, but we can't know that until they catch him and find out the whole story. Obviously a black church in the south, especially one that's been around as long as this one, will have some history of dealing with racial animosity - and you need to respect that, particularly at a time like this. As for the guy detained at the gas station, it sounds like he was eliminated as a suspect so we're choosing not to include his name in the excerpted item, lest he become the victim of an unfair association with the crime. We'll follow the story and update as new information becomes available. Please pray for everyone affected by this terrible act of evil, and for the police to catch the killer as soon as possible - hopefully alive so they can learn the real story. UPDATE: If true, this would tend to give credence to the narrative of a racial motive:
inckney’s cousin told WAFF-TV that the gunman specifically asked for the reverend before Bible study and sat next to him before opening fire. The cousin says survivors told her that the gunman told them, “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.”
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