The white suspect in
the massacre at a historic black church in South Carolina is scheduled to make
a court appearance Friday for a bail hearing, as federal authorities continue
to investigate the killings as a possible hate crime.
Dylann Roof, 21, was
flown back to South Carolina Thursday in the custody of the FBI. He had driven to
neighboring North Carolina after allegedly murdering nine worshippers,
including an 87-year-old woman, and wounding three more inside the Emanuel
African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston Wednesday night.
Police said Roof walked
into the church and sat quietly for an hour during a Bible study before
standing up and saying he had to kill black people.
A relative of one of
the victims told CNN that a survivor told her Roof told the study group, who
were all black, that "you've raped our women and you're taking over the
country. I have to do what I have to do."
The Associated Press quoted
a friend of Roof, who recently reconnected with him, as saying the suspect had
complained that "blacks were taking over the world'' and that
"someone needed to do something about it for the white race.''
South Carolina Gov.
Nikki Haley told NBC Friday the gunman who killed nine people during a shooting
spree at a Charleston church should get the death penalty. “We will absolutely
want him to have the death penalty."