Said one local NAACP official: the attacker allowed a single survivor to live, specifically so that she could tell others what happened.
The incident is the deadliest "mass shooting" since the Navy Yard shooting in 2013, and the current reports state that nine people including the pastor are dead.
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.
The suspect was still at large early Thursday morning. And the shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest AME church in the South, is being investigated as a hate crime.
"The only reason someone would walk into a church and shoot people that were praying is hate," said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley.
Eight churchgoers died at the scene; a ninth at a hospital, police said.
Police said the suspect in the shooting is a clean-shaven white man in his 20s, with a slender build. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and boots.
"He obviously is extremely dangerous," Chief Mullen said. "We will put all our resources, we will put all of our energy in finding this individual."
The department asked anyone with information to call 911 dispatchers.
Смотрите видео Nine Dead in Shooting Rampage Inside South Carolina Church, Gunman at Large онлайн без регистрации, длительностью часов минут секунд в хорошем качестве. Это видео добавил пользователь ziffulmyer 18 Июнь 2015, не забудьте поделиться им ссылкой с друзьями и знакомыми, на нашем сайте его посмотрели 41 раз и оно понравилось людям.