http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-carolina-mass-shooting-at-emanuel-african-methodist-church/story-e6frea6u-1227405134818
MORE details have emerged of how Dylann Roof got a handgun for his 21st, and "wanted to start a civil war" before allegedly committing a church massacre.
Charleston police captured Roof, the white suspect in a mass killing at one of the oldest black churches in the United States, the latest gun massacre to leave the country reeling.
Roof was given a .45-caliber gun from his father when he turned 21 in April this year, a senior law enforcement source briefed on the investigation said.
It is not known whether he used the gun in the church massacre, but his roommate revealed he had been "planning something like that for six months".
Dalton Tyler, who has known Roof for around seven months to a year, told ABC News America he saw the suspect last week.
"He was big into segregation and other stuff," Tyler said.
"He said he wanted to start a civil war. He said he was going to do something like that and then kill himself."
Roof's Facebook page revealed he wore pro-apartheid flags, with an image of him in a jacket with the flags of apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
Another Facebook photo of Roof showed him sitting on the roof of his car with a license plate that had a Confederate flag on it.
John Mullins, who went to high school with Roof, told The Daily Beast he was "kind of wild."
"He used drugs heavily a lot," Mullins said.
"It was obviously harder than marijuana. He was like a pill popper, from what I understood. Like Xanax, and stuff like that."
He also made a lot of "racist jokes" while growin up, but Mullins said he never thought anything more of them at the time.
"He made a lot of racist jokes, but you don't really take them seriously like that. You don't really think of it like that."
Joseph Meek Jr. and Roof were best friends in middle school, and reconnected a few weeks ago when Roof reached out to Meek on Facebook.
Meek told AP Roof had begun ranting about the murders of Trayvon Martin and Freddie Gray and saying that black people were "taking over the world."
"He said blacks were taking over the world. Someone needed to do something about it for the white race," Meek said.
"He said he wanted segregation between whites and blacks. I said, 'That's not the way it should be.' But he kept talking about it."
A woman who claimed to be the mother of Roof's former stepmother told the Wall Street Journal of how he became a loner.
"He apparently told people that he was involved in groups, racist groups," she said, adding that he stopped going to high school.
"He turned into a loner in the last couple of years and no one knew why," she said. "He just fell off the grid somehow."
US Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said his niece, Emily, was in an eighth-grade English class with Roof.
"He was quiet, strange, very unsocial and everyone thought he was on drugs," Graham said of the suspect, relaying the description from Emily and his sister, Darline Graham Nordone.
The niece did not recall Roof making statements related to race, Graham said.
"I just think he was one of these whacked-out kids. I don't think it's anything broader than that," said Graham, who is running for president. "It's about a young man who is obviously twisted."
Roof, now the accused gunman, allegedly walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Church, sat for about an hour then opened fire.
Sylvia Johnson, a relative of one of the victims, told MSNBC news a survivor had told her that the gunman had made a racist rant and reloaded five times during the attack.
"He said: 'You rape our women and you're taking over our country and you have to go,'" she told the network.
While it is perfectly normal for a white person to want segregation from non whites this guy sounds like he had some real drug issues and head issues to boot!
Would any of you really want to be associated with him closely?
MORE details have emerged of how Dylann Roof got a handgun for his 21st, and "wanted to start a civil war" before allegedly committing a church massacre.
Charleston police captured Roof, the white suspect in a mass killing at one of the oldest black churches in the United States, the latest gun massacre to leave the country reeling.
Roof was given a .45-caliber gun from his father when he turned 21 in April this year, a senior law enforcement source briefed on the investigation said.
It is not known whether he used the gun in the church massacre, but his roommate revealed he had been "planning something like that for six months".
Dalton Tyler, who has known Roof for around seven months to a year, told ABC News America he saw the suspect last week.
"He was big into segregation and other stuff," Tyler said.
"He said he wanted to start a civil war. He said he was going to do something like that and then kill himself."
Roof's Facebook page revealed he wore pro-apartheid flags, with an image of him in a jacket with the flags of apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
Another Facebook photo of Roof showed him sitting on the roof of his car with a license plate that had a Confederate flag on it.
John Mullins, who went to high school with Roof, told The Daily Beast he was "kind of wild."
"He used drugs heavily a lot," Mullins said.
"It was obviously harder than marijuana. He was like a pill popper, from what I understood. Like Xanax, and stuff like that."
He also made a lot of "racist jokes" while growin up, but Mullins said he never thought anything more of them at the time.
"He made a lot of racist jokes, but you don't really take them seriously like that. You don't really think of it like that."
Joseph Meek Jr. and Roof were best friends in middle school, and reconnected a few weeks ago when Roof reached out to Meek on Facebook.
Meek told AP Roof had begun ranting about the murders of Trayvon Martin and Freddie Gray and saying that black people were "taking over the world."
"He said blacks were taking over the world. Someone needed to do something about it for the white race," Meek said.
"He said he wanted segregation between whites and blacks. I said, 'That's not the way it should be.' But he kept talking about it."
A woman who claimed to be the mother of Roof's former stepmother told the Wall Street Journal of how he became a loner.
"He apparently told people that he was involved in groups, racist groups," she said, adding that he stopped going to high school.
"He turned into a loner in the last couple of years and no one knew why," she said. "He just fell off the grid somehow."
US Senator Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said his niece, Emily, was in an eighth-grade English class with Roof.
"He was quiet, strange, very unsocial and everyone thought he was on drugs," Graham said of the suspect, relaying the description from Emily and his sister, Darline Graham Nordone.
The niece did not recall Roof making statements related to race, Graham said.
"I just think he was one of these whacked-out kids. I don't think it's anything broader than that," said Graham, who is running for president. "It's about a young man who is obviously twisted."
Roof, now the accused gunman, allegedly walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Church, sat for about an hour then opened fire.
Sylvia Johnson, a relative of one of the victims, told MSNBC news a survivor had told her that the gunman had made a racist rant and reloaded five times during the attack.
"He said: 'You rape our women and you're taking over our country and you have to go,'" she told the network.
While it is perfectly normal for a white person to want segregation from non whites this guy sounds like he had some real drug issues and head issues to boot!
Would any of you really want to be associated with him closely?
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