Police in South Carolina, after several hours of searching, today found and arrested a young man who is suspected of killing nine people in a church in Charleston, said local police chief Gregory Mullen.
It is about Dylan Ruff, a 21-year-old white man, and the police say that he committed the murders with a gun that his father gave him in April, when he celebrated his 21st birthday, the agencies reported.
He was arrested at a police checkpoint in Shelby, South Carolina, about a four-hour drive from where the crime was committed, Malen said.
It is feared that several other people were wounded in the shooting.
South Carolina's representative in the Senate, Clement Pinckney, lost his life in the bloody attack.
"One person just walked into the church and started shooting. There's still a lot of uncertainty, but we'll see everything in the next hours," said local pastor Thomas Dixon.
Police chief Gregory Mullen said that this is "believed to be a hate crime".
According to him, eight African-Americans were killed inside the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and two worshipers were taken to the hospital, one of whom died soon after.
"Right now we have nine victims in this heinous crime that was committed. It's incomprehensible that someone in today's society would walk into a church while people are at a service and take their life," said Malen.
"It is an unprecedented tragedy". said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley.
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