White man shoots nine dead in a black church!

Live update Charleston shooting/Manhunt

Shooting happened about 6 hours ago now. Suspect is still at large. Suspect is a white male, approx. 21 years old, small build, has sandy blonde hair. Was wearing a gray hoodie, jeans, and brown shoes, but I'm sure thats no longer useful.

The Charleston church shooting is the deadliest US mass shooting since 12 were killed at the Washington Navy Yard in 2013.

Rev. Clements Pinckney, a SC legislator is among the 9 killed in SC church.

The shooting took place at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Racial motives are likely, but not confirmed.

Links:

http://news.yahoo.com/shooting-downtown-charleston-south-carolina-031543897.html

http://www.reddit.com/live/v3f8b7po97cm

So. Now people will start carrying guns to churches.

Racial motives are assumed because he's white, typical. Any actual evidence of his motives being racial?

Not gonna get into the whole "Is this a race thing??" argument, but I'm gonna say my heart goes out to the victims and their families, their loss and catching this psycho so he can't do it again is what REALLY matters.

Not trying to downplay what happened, that's a terrible tragedy and that guy should be found and killed IMO but just pointing out that the only proof of it being "racially motivated" is that he's a white guy who shot up a black church. I don't think that we should assume anything without actual evidence. Could have just been some crazy dude who randomly walked into a church that happened to be a black church.

The area was a tourist area, with plenty of restaurants in the area to shoot up but he choose to walk into an historical black church.

@albusan: Why are racial motives likely? Because he's white? I checked both links and they don't provide any evidence that backs it being "likely."

So? crazy people do crazy/random sh*t. What does that prove? Could have hated churches/religion, could have done it for literally no reason at all.

So basically your reason for it being likely is he's white.

Do we really need to emphasize that he was white

Just creates false racial tension.

A white man walked into a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, and opened fire during a Bible study class, killing nine people Wednesday evening. That's why I have no problem it being assumed it was a hate crime.

That white man is on the run from the police currently. Any information about his appearance is important to bring him into custody.

How many Viners do you think are from Charleston, South Carolina?

So he walked into a historic church with lots of traffic, could be a guy targeting a busy area, could be a guy targeting a church... could be no rhyme or reason at all. White guy shoots up black church = racial motives, cool. Nothing is "likely" at this point, it's possible but the fact that you put so much emphasis on him being white and on him having "racial motives" is very telling about you.

The police tought they caught their man, but after questioning he was released.

I smell denial in this thread LOL..

It's the south.. is it really unlikely that a white guy would go to a place that's obvisouly well known as a black church to shoot up the place because of that reason.

Out of all the places he could have gone.. really now?

None of the description is highlighted though, only white male, which is easy enough to remember...

@thenaughtytitan: it's very telling about you, that you're in denial that racial motives could be likely in this case. You think an investigator would not consider that to be the most likely reason for this crime? Sorry man there's still hate crimes in this country, racism isn't over.

Prediction: The guy is a certified racist, but the motive was involving something government related, and the Rev was the easiest target, but probably only vaguely involved.

1. "it's very telling about you" Repeating what I said is very clever (sarcasm.)
2. Nice job purposefully misinterpreting what I was saying by telling me hate crimes still exist, never said otherwise.
3. Obviously it's an option, but you act like it should automatically be assumed that it was motivated by racial reasoning just because the guy is white when in reality it could have been for any number of reasons (any of those reasons would of course be insane, but no guy who shoots up a place is going to have a sane reason) and we shouldn't assume it was a hate crime just because the shooter was white.

Racial motives shouldn't be "assumed" without any proof of that being the reasoning for the shooting. White guy did it = hate crime. Any evidence that the guy had "racial motives"? Nope? Then pipe down and stop trying to make this something you can't prove.

Could be a race thing, but we shouldn't assume it is like you said you had "no problem" assuming.

@thenaughtytitan: Not assuming the most likely reason.. makes 0 sense.

Sure there could be other reasons, but the locations of this incident just scream hate crime. People should assume that this could be the prime reason.. instead of being naive about something that happens constantly.

No reason is the most likely reason currently (in my view) because we have nothing solid that points to anything, sure he's white... but unlike you and albusan I don't think that means it is likely due to racial reasons. I'm not assuming anything until we have some semblance of actual proof.

That's like saying.. we shouldn't assume the Boston bombing was a terrorist attack by Muslim extremist because the guys were middle eastern.

Again, no proof of it being a hate crime. Not going to assume anything. You know what else happens constantly? Shootings that aren't motivated by racial reasoning.

White guy = automatic hate crime

I didn't know black churches were a thing

@thenaughtytitan: .. Dude.. we have a white guy in the south (racism is rampant in the south compared to the north).

He could have went ANYWHERE to do what he did.. but he chose a historic BLACK CHURCH. It was planned.. the guy didn't even walk in and shoot not knowing who was I there..he sat down and waited. It wasn't just the pastor that got killed, but other random victims.

There is SOO much here that lead to a hate crime but you ignore the facts we DO HAVE legit reasons to assume that it could be the prime reason.

@thenaughtytitan: It's not just the fact he's a white guy, it's where he went to do what he did..

There's more evidence to say it was a hate crime then there is to say it wasn't.. that's the simple truth you refuse to accept.

@dbvse7:

He could have gone anywhere, but going to a black church doesn't mean he was motivated by race. Could have had a beef with church, could have been a random place that he just wanted to shoot up, could have had beef with a member of the church. Anything is possible at this point and the only thing you have to base it being a hate crime is he was a white.

It was planned.

So? What does this prove about it being a hate crime specifically? Many non race related shootings have been planned or the shooters have waited to make there move.

It wasn't just the pastor that got killed, but other random victims.

Again, SO? What does this prove about it being a hate crime? Shooting multiple people doesn't = hate crime, non race related shooters shoot multiple people all the time, what does shooting multiple victims prove?

There is SOO much here that lead to a hate crime

So much? There isn't any actual proof... you can speculate based off of location and his race as much as you want but i'm not going to assume anything until we have actual proof besides the shooter being white.

DO HAVE legit reasons to assume that it could be the prime reason.

I also assume that it "could be"... I never said it couldn't. You do realize saying "assume" that it "could be" just means that you think that it's an option, which I also think as well...

Anyway i'm done with this thread.

Where he went isn't actual evidence, nor is his race. You don't know the motivations for him going there so it doesn't work to prove it's a hate crime. You don't have any actual evidence so I don't know why you're using that word.

Until more is released in the matter and until we actually know what happened, i'm not assuming a damn thing.

We have a southern white guy who went into a specific church where the majority to everyone in the church is black.. that's strong evidence for a hate crime.

I mention how he shot more that just the pastor.. because this doesn't look like something that just had to do with the pastor. He's young, and his method of killing wasn't that of someone out of control or "insane". He was calm and patient.

Again.. his method, his skin and the location are reasons to assume it was a hate crime. His method could have worked anywhere else, but he specifically chose a black church and killed more than neccessary if it was personal.

@the_stegman said:

There is potential for it being a hate crime, but that in no way means we should assume it is, as far as we know, he could hate Christianity, this was the church closest to him, he sat there and waited until it began, found the people who cared the most and killed them, could have nothing to do with race. You could assume he was coaxed by an IS member or is an IS sympathiser if you wanted too, at the moment there's about as much proof of that too.

What really matters is catching the guy before he does something again.

the crazy people of the world smh

That's disgusting, this can't be just insanity, it takes motivation to go after people in a place they feel safe.

Waiting on Fox News to justify the killer's actions.

WUT?

They haven't found him!?

Also, look at that bowl cut. You don't rock the bowl unless you have a nasty plan.

...Really?

Yes really.

So much for guns in America protecting you.

RIP to all the victims. Let us hope they catch the killer, so sad :/

F*]^ing disgusting. Although i do believe that its probably racially motivated probably motivated we don't have concrete evidence so screaming racism could be detrimental. Regardless of why he did it, this piece of festering cow dung need to be caught and punished.

I'm to guess that this guy could be a member of Stormfront.

We'll see what info pans out...

An evil person did something evil. Here's a live update newsfeed on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/live/v3f8b7po97cm?

My condolences to the victims and their families.

For everyone screaming "racially motivated", I would love to see some actual evidence besides appealing to ignorance. Regardless of why he did it, he's a scumbag to the ninth degree, and deserves the worst fate man can ever give.

May they rest in peace.

Yep, I hear way more about innocent people getting killed by them than being protected by them.

Have you heard the expression "If it bleeds, it leads"?

@saren: Can you find any instances where guns in America have protected anyone? I know the media is heavily bias towards many issues, but I've never thought guns help anyone in America. We haven't had a school shooting in the UK in forever, seems like once a month a school (or a church in this case) gets shot up in the states.

There's strong evidence for it being a hate crime as black churches in the South have historically been attacked.