Dylann Roof

Dylann Storm Roof (b. 3, April, 1994) is a 27 year old American convicted felon currently serving 12 consecutive life terms in state prison after being sentenced to death by lethal injection by the federal law. In federal court he was found guilty of 9 counts of Hate crime act resulting in death, 3 counts of Hate crime act involving an attempt to kill, 9 counts of Obstruction of exercise of religion resulting in death, 3 counts of Obstruction of exercise of religion involving an attempt to kill and use of a dangerous weapon, and 9 counts of Use of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence. He was further convicted of murder. In state court, he was found guilty of 9 counts of murder, 3 counts of attempted murder, and 1 count of Possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Early Life
Roof was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to Franklin Bennett Roof (nicknamed Benn), a carpenter and a construction contractor, and Amelia "Amy" Cowles, a bartender. His parents had divorced but were temporarily reconciled at the time of his birth. When Roof was 5, his father married Paige Mann (née Hastings) in November 1999; they divorced after ten years of marriage. Roof has two siblings, an older half sister, Amber Roof, and a younger sister, Morgan Roof. Bennett Roof was allegedly verbally and physically abusive toward Mann. The family mostly lived in South Carolina, though from about 2005 to 2008, they temporarily moved to the Florida Keys. There is no information about Roof attending local schools there. According to a 2009 affidavit filed for Mann's divorce, Roof had behavioral issues in school. In nine years, Roof attended at least seven schools in two South Carolina counties, including White Knoll High School in Lexington, in which he repeated the ninth grade, finishing it in another school. He apparently stopped attending classes in 2010 and, according to his family, dropped out of school and spent his time alternating between playing video games and taking drugs, such as Suboxone. He was on the rolls of a local Evangelical Lutheran congregation, but it was unclear if he had recently attended. Prior to the attack, Roof was living alternately in Bennett's and Cowles' homes in downtown Columbia and Hopkins, respectively, but was mostly raised by his stepmother Mann. For several weeks preceding the attack, Roof had also been occasionally living in the home of an old friend from middle school and the latter's mother, two brothers, and girlfriend. He allegedly spent his time using drugs and getting drunk. He had been working as a landscaper at the behest of his father, but quit the job prior to the shooting. His maternal uncle, Carson Cowles, said that he expressed concern about the social withdrawal of his then-nineteen-year-old nephew, because "he still didn't have a job, a driver's license or anything like that and he just stayed in his room a lot of the time." Cowles said he tried to mentor Roof, but was rejected and they drifted apart. According to Mann, Roof cut off all contact with her after her divorce from his father. When his sister planned to be married, he did not respond to her invitation to the event. A former high school classmate said that despite Roof's racist comments, some of his friends in school were black.

Earlier Contacts with Police
Roof had a prior police record consisting of two arrests, both made in the months preceding the attack. He was investigated on one occasion during this period but without arrest or charge.

On March 2, 2015, he was questioned about a February 28 incident at the Columbiana Centre in Columbia, in which he entered the mall wearing all-black clothing and asked employees unsettling questions. During the questioning, authorities found a bottle of what was later admitted to be Suboxone, a narcotic that is used for treating either chronic pain or opiate-abuse addictions and that is abused as a recreational drug; Roof was arrested for a misdemeanor charge of drug possession. He was subsequently banned from the Columbiana Centre for a year. On March 13, 2015, Roof was investigated for loitering in his parked car near a park in downtown Columbia. He had been recognized by an off-duty police officer who investigated his March 2 questioning; the officer then called a colleague to investigate. A police officer conducted a search of his vehicle and found a forearm grip for an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and six unloaded magazines, all capable of holding 40 rounds. When asked about it, Roof informed the officer that he wanted to purchase an AR-15, but did not have enough money to do so. He was not charged, as it was not illegal in South Carolina to possess a firearm grip. On April 26, 2015, Roof was arrested again for trespassing on the Columbiana Centre mall's grounds in violation of the ban. The ban was then extended for three additional years. According to James Comey, speaking in July 2015, Roof's March arrest was at first written as a felony, which would have required an inquiry into the charge during a firearms background examination. It was legally a misdemeanor charge and was incorrectly written as a felony at first due to a data entry error made by a jail clerk. Despite this, Roof would not have been able to legally purchase firearms under a law that barred "unlawful user[s] of or addicted to any controlled substance," such as the Suboxone, from owning firearms.

Charleston church shooting
On the evening of June 17, 2015, a mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States. During a routine Bible study at the church, a white man about 21 years old, later identified as Roof, opened fire with a handgun, killing nine people. Roof was unemployed and living in largely African-American Eastover at the time of the attack. At around 9:05 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 17, 2015, the Charleston Police Department began receiving calls of a shooting at Emanuel AME Church. Roof, a white man, with sandy-blond hair, around 21 years old and 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) in height, wearing a gray sweatshirt and jeans opened fire with a Glock 41 .45-caliber handgun on a group of people inside the church at a Bible study attended by Pinckney. He had first attended the meeting as a participant that evening. The shooter then fled the scene. He had been carrying eight magazines holding hollow-point bullets. During the hour preceding the attack, 13 people including Roof participated in the Bible study. After that, he was arrested.