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Dylann Roof charged with federal hate crimes in Charleston church massacre

Wednesday, 22 July 2015 7:52 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 22 July 2015 8:32 PM ]

This June 19, 2015 Charleston County Sheriff booking file photo shows suspect Dylann Roof.

Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who has confessed to killing nine African American worshipers last month in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, has been charged with federal hate crimes.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the indictment at the Justice Department in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. The charges are in addition to state murder and attempted murder charges against the 21-year-old suspect.

Lynch said a federal grand jury charged Roof with 33 hate crime charges, including murder and attempted murder. He could face the death penalty as a result of the indictment.

“Racially-motivated violence such as this is the original domestic terrorism,” Lynch told reporters.

“On that summer evening, [Roof] found his target: African Americans engaged in worship,” she added.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch speaks to the media during a news conference at the Justice Department on July 22, 2015 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)

“Met with welcome by the ministers of the church and its parishioners, he joined them in their Bible study group. The parishioners had Bibles. Dylann Roof has his gun, eight magazines loaded with hollow-point bullets. While the parishioners were engaged in Bible study, Dylann Roof drew his pistol and opened fire,” she continued.

Roof, an avowed white supremacist, shot dead nine worshipers at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston on June 17.

He had been in contact with white supremacists online, according to federal and local authorities. He appeared in photos holding Confederate flags and burning or desecrating American flags.

Investigators used the information they had gathered in order to determine where Roof received his inspiration and/or whether anyone else should face charges in connection with the mass killings.

According to authorities in South Carolina, the attacker left a racist manifesto on his website. The website, called "The Last Rhodesian," was registered under Roof's name.

The website emerged on June 20 in which Roof vehemently denounces African Americans and appears in photographs with guns and burning the US flag. The 2,500-word manifesto on the website does not bear his name.

A picture apparently of Dylann Roof, which was uploaded to the website that housed his purported manifesto.

"I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight," the racist manifesto stated.

"I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country.

"We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the Internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me."

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