South Carolina, and the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shooter, Dylann Roof, have the top story of the past week. Q13 Fox reported that the South Carolina church shooter waited during a prayer meeting and then opened fire, killing nine parishioners.
The South Carolina shooter was arrested a few times in early 2015 for drugs or other misdemeanors, but those who knew him said he never appeared violent, and he “had black friends.” The BBC reported Saturday that one of the “black friends” of the South Carolina church shooter decided to speak out about his childhood friend. Roof’s friend, Christon Scriven, sat down for an interview with British news broadcaster.
“He actually did everything he said he was going to do. I don’t feel no different today, than I felt about him before he did this stuff. Like I said, who’s to say Dylann was in his right mind. Nobody knows what anybody go through. Like everybody’s making him out to be racist, but here I am in front you today as a black man. I’m telling you I look at him no different today than what I looked at him last week. He never said anything racist to me.”
The Church shooter’s friend Scriven also told the BBC that the church was not his intended target, and his “heart goes out to the families.” He said the South Carolina church shooter, Dylann Roof, told him he wanted to shoot up UCA University in Charleston. When Scriven asked why , Roof said that he told him he “had seven days,” the Guardian reported.
“My reaction at the time was: ‘You’re just talking crazy. I don’t think he’s always there.”
An Inquisitr opinion piece suggested that there seemed to be a rush to judgment of South Carolina church shooting case, so Scriven’s account seems to break up the rolling narrative that has been reported thus far.
President Obama has spoken out on the issue tighter gun control restriction, a former 2008 and 2012 Republican Presidential candidate spoke out about the Confederate/Rebel Flag, and others suggested that Dylan Roof was simply an avowed racist bent on a massacre on a race he has hated for some time.
Some reports have indicated that Roof had disparaging remarks against Hispanic Americans and Black Americans through social media. Unfortunately, it is too early to tell just what was going on in the mind of the South Carolina church shooter, but his childhood friend, Christon Scriven, just added another layer to case that for many seemed open and shut.
Either way, hopefully, justice will be served in South Carolina, and church families affected will find solace.
[Image via BBC Video Screenshot]
