A man who identified himself as the uncle of Dylann Storm Roof, the suspected gunman in Wednesday night’s Charleston church massacre, told MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” that his nephew had ruined the family.
Speaking in a phone interview from his home, Carson Cowles of Gaston, South Carolina, said the family was stunned at reports of his nephew’s alleged actions.
“We didn’t see this coming,” he said. “We had no clue. And I will say this: I hope he gets what’s coming to him. They got his ass now.”
Police apprehended Roof in Shelby, North Carolina Thursday afternoon after a 14-hour manhunt following Wednesday’s shootings, which left nine people dead.
READ MORE: Charleston massacre suspect Dylann Roof captured
“Not only has he destroyed nine people’s lives and his own, he’s destroyed his whole family,” Cowles said.
In the frenzy that has engulfed South Carolina, Roof’s family finds itself consumed by a maelstrom of media attention. “Oh my lord, he’s done made our life a living hell,” Cowles said. “What he did was unspeakable.” Cowles would not go into detail with regards to his relationship with Dylann Roof. According to public records, Roof’s father has been divorced twice, once in 1991 and again in 2011. Noah Fitzgerel contributed to this report.
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