Dylann Roof, the confessed shooter in the massacre at the historically black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, is in a prison cell next to another infamous shooting death suspect, Officer Michael Slager, according to the Associated Press.
Roof, a 21-year-old white man, was apprehended earlier this week after entering a Bible study service on Wednesday and eventually killing nine people, including the church’s pastor, State Sen. Clementa Pinckney. Slager, is currently under indictment for killing Walter Scott, an unarmed black man. Scott was shot in the back as he tried to flee Slager following a traffic stop in North Charleston, an incident which was caught on tape by a witness and became national news this April.
Ironically, Pinckney had pushed legislation in the State Senate calling for body cameras on police in the state following the death of Scott.
Charleston’s hi-profile murder suspects are now neighbors: Roof is in cell 1141B, Slager 1140B in the protective unit pic.twitter.com/5bTrMwd3Tk
— Jason Sickles (@jasonsickles) June 19, 2015Both inmates are being held in a section for high-risk and potentially suicidal inmates. They are also both alone in their individual cells and have no way of communicating with each other, according to authorities.
The death of Walter Scott sparked widespread anger and protests in the South Carolina area and now, just a few months later, the Charleston community is reeling from another racially polarizing act of violence. In the aftermath of the Scott shooting, Slager reportedly told authorities he fired his weapon at Scott repeatedly because he “felt threatened.” Meanwhile, early reports have suggested that racial hatred was the prime motive for Roof’s attack on Wednesday. Roof, who currently faces nine counts of murder, reportedly told investigators he almost “didn’t go through” with the church shooting, but that he ultimately decided he had to “go through with his mission.” The Emanuel AME Church will not be holding services this Sunday and a representative from the Charleston NAACP told NBC News on Saturday “they are advising church members to go to another AME church tomorrow.”
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