WHITE SHOOTER, BLACK CHURCH, MULTIPLE FATALITIES, BOMB THREAT …
|| By FITSNEWS || Law enforcement and emergency vehicles are frantically responding to a deadly church shooting in downtown Charleston, S.C. And the terror could just be beginning as authorities are reportedly investigating a “suspicious device” said to be connected to the attack against one of the South’s oldest, most historic black churches.
The shooting occurred at around 9:00 p.m. EDT at the Mother Emanuel AME Church – the home church of veteran S.C. Senator Clementa Pinckney (Emanuel’s pastor). At least nine people are dead, sources tell FITS – although it’s not immediately clear if Pinckney is among the deceased.
Sources at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) tell FITS Pinckney and his sister were among those shot – although there was no immediate update on their conditions.
UPDATE: Both Pinckney and his sister have been confirmed dead.
The parishioners had gathered at the church for a mid-week Bible Study. The suspect reportedly walked into the room where the study was being held at around 8:00 p.m. – sitting with the group for over an hour before opening fire.
Shortly after 11:00 p.m. EDT, Charleston police confirmed that a bomb threat had been called into the church – possibly by the gunman. Members of the media and other onlookers were ordered to move back from their positions outside of the building while police addressed the threat.
Multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agencies – including the City of Charleston police department, the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – are investigating the attack.
No word yet on the number of individuals wounded, although within minutes of the first shots ringing out the low hum of a warm summer’s evening in one of the nation’s most vibrant, historic cities was pierced again by the wailing sirens of dozens of police cars and ambulances screaming down its storied streets – with the whirring of helicopter blades in the skies above in search of the triggerman.
The alleged shooter was described by police as a white male in his early twenties. He was reportedly clean-shaven and of slender build, wearing a grey sweatshirt, blue jeans and Timberland boots.
UPDATE: Police have released images of the alleged perpetrator.
The suspect was reportedly apprehended within two hours of the shooting following a massive police manhunt. But that turned out to be a false alarm … or more specifically a local photographer who happened to fit the description of the suspect.
As of this writing, the shooter remains at large …
Obviously there is no overstating what a terrible a tragedy this is … and our most heartfelt prayers go out to the families and friends of those killed or wounded during this attack.
Senseless slayings like this are exactly why we support capital punishment.
There’s also obviously no understating how much damage a racially charged rampage like this could do to South Carolina – especially in the aftermath of this year’s shooting of an unarmed black man by a white North Charleston, S.C. police officer.
44 comments
Not apprehended. CHS police still looking for gunman as of 10:58
No “overstating”
What a lamentable tragedy.
Unreliable sources telling FitsNews that eight are dead.
“we support capital punishment”
So does the murdering cracker.
A guy wants to go into a church and shoot unarmed people…………..? At least be man enough to waltz into a recruiting station or police station and BEG to go to Syria and kill ISIS goons…!! They may laugh at you and cuff you but at least your being a REAL man..!!!
True Story: A guy worked with me whose first employment after graduating from USC was teaching tenth grade English and Math in Timmonsville. Just before Christmas break he realized that he hated everything about teaching. So he went to an Army recruiter and told him that he wanted to enlist after the school year ended. When he did enlist he told them that he wanted to get as far away from those kids as possible — he volunteered, he begged the Army to send him to Viet Nam. He spent his full time at Fort Gordon on burial details.
Thanks for the story Shifty……
He also told me that it was very sad duty. He estimated that 75% of the funerals were for black soldiers. Some of the churches were truly in some back woods and swamps. Occasionally there would be 2-3 funerals in a day.
“the low hum of a warm summer’s evening in one of the nation’s most vibrant, historic cities was pierced again by the wailing sirens of dozens of police cars and ambulances screaming down its storied streets – with the whirring of helicopter blades in the skies above in search of the triggerman.”
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This is a news article about murder and should not try to be an entry for the “Tennessee Williams Prize for Summer Literature” …..
The J0bSite on the Net @mk6
..
http://www.FinanceNetMoneyBing/quick/dollars….
It’s an example of what separates a blog ‘written by FITSNEWS’ or written by Will Folks from actual journalism.
To use this incident – at this stage ! – to argue for the death penalty reveals a depravity that is sickening. Blood thurst thinly masked by redneck poetry!
That this is tragedy is the understatement of the year. Yes, this is one more reason that the death penalty should remain on the table. While we may never know for sure whether or not a church member present had a CWP and would possibly have been armed and able to take out thd shooter before the casualties went so high, it does bear noting that SC’s Legislature saw fit to make churches a Gun Free Zone. Once again, we see the obvious in that another silly law which only impedes the law-abiding, had zero effect on the POS shooter. Almost 100% of these tragedies occur in legally designated Gun Free Zones. While this POS is loose, we all live with the possibility that this might happen again, either in SC or elsewhere. When will Legislators like Jay Lucas, Larry Martin, Greg Hembree, Mike Pitts, and others, quit playing stupid games with citizens’rights to be able to protect themselves from these sensless attacks?
You arguments are repetitive and pathetic.
Less guns less violence, more guns especially in untrained hands more violence and deaths.
Sure. Everbody just freeze or hide under a desk or chair, as they have done in numerous like tragedies. Tell me again how well that worked for the victims and their families. Oh wait…
Close range fun fights result in more collateral damage and friendly fire – so be careful what you ask for. That’s why even in the military there are special courses for this. When moma pulls out the saturday night special nothing good happens.
Actually, “moma and her Saturday night special” break up crimes all the time: https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/armed-citizen/
You are somewhat correct, I’m not sure it rises to the level of “depravity”, but it does rise to the level of “poor taste”.
Now I’ve been guilt of “poor taste” myself now and then, even purposely…but let’s not shrink from what it is none the less….I’m an honest hypocrite if nothing else.
Watching WIS. Todd Rutherford told Judy Gatson that he has been told there are 9 fatalities.
What I find difficult to believe is that there are so many people milling about as if there’s been a Bill Murray sighting. I assume all these idiots know the shooter hasn’t been caught, right?
Apparently Todd misheard his info or got it from someone who misheard it. Post and Courier is now reporting “Nine shot, multiple fatalities.”
Church was preaching racism like Obama’s church in Chicago? Whatever the case, this is absolutely horrible! The crime in Charleston has become so bad, going out in the public you run a higher than normal risk of getting shot there.
You are a sick person, Pogo.
Trying to blame the victims, that’s a new low. Probably because he’s covering his tracks. Hope Pogo is being investigated.
Well it was an AME church.
The State is now reporting “Eight people died at the church, and a ninth person died later at MUSC
hospital, Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said during a news
conference just before 1 a.m. Thursday. The number of injured people and
their conditions were not known.”
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/state/south-carolina/article24831589.html#storylink=cpy
My adopted niece goes to CofC this scene was 4 blocks from her apartment. I’m glad she was home for summer. This is a tragedy for Charleston on the order of the Sofa Superstore Fire, which occurred eight years ago on June 18th.
irony is something else……
Big deal, she could have lived next door to the church and been at home. She wouldn’t have been in any more danger. Nobody outside the church was in any extra danger last night.
Anyone in proximity to that POS is in potential danger until the cops either get him or (hopefully) find him dead. The pic on WIS are reminescent of the two fruits from Columbine. Gut feeling is that he will take himself out, hopefully without harming others.
Well so much for your gut feeling.
Ya win some and you lose some.
Racially motivated murders in the US and SC are a clear sign that this society has an uneducated, racist and right wing underbelly (left wingers are not racially motivated and do other disgusting acts) that apparently will always be in the way of a more liberal, diverse and enlightened society.
The dystopian horizon that presents itself is frightening in particular if one takes into account the technological and military bloodletting over the last decade.
The US is no longer the ‘city on the hill’ but a destructive maelstrom fueled by hate and uneducated prejudices.
Argentinian,
Your post is a hate post. Pure and simple. Perhaps driven by left wing politics, personal animus, or simple hate.
But a hate post nonetheless.
They are calling it a hate crime because it was in a church NOT because the killer was white and the victims black.
“a destructive maelstrom fueled by hate and uneducated prejudices”
The modern GOP’s “southern strategy?”
This is a very sad day for our city. This is beyond anything I can imagine.
I iz all fer hangin’ dis feller in da street- after a quick trial, a very quick trial! sum crimes calls fer dyin’ – shootin unarmed folks in church iz one gud reason fer an old fashion hangin’!
Do you really fucking think that your racist, faked up black dialect is appropriate at this moment?
I’ve flagged it and hope someone at Disqus has the sense to see it for what it is.
You iz a dam fool! Iz a bin postin heer in diaect fer yeers. Apanantly ye is a damnb Yankee hoo don’t knows a back country dialect from a low country accent. Ye sees a racist everie whare ye look, seems t’ mee by yer commint. Dis bein’ da case, ye can kiss my old arse, junior. Yer moral outrage iz a symptum of a much larger personal problem.
It’s always been offensive…and, flagged AGAIN.
Since my speekin’ style haz do Nuthin wit black folks, but onlie with plain southern folks lik me, I find yer offense offensive. I find it hateful an offensive. Pleeze continue to flag, miss yankee know-it-all!
PS- Ye cain still kiss my ol’ arse!
PPS- OR, ye cain stop harassin meeeeee!
Whether hate crime or not (as we know, racial identification of individuals can sometimes be difficult) it is certainly terrorism.