Services held at Charleston church for first time since shooting
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WABC) -- The congregation at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal swayed and sang and welcomed the world into their sanctuary Sunday, holding the first worship service since a gunman opened fire during a Bible study and killed nine church members.
Messages of love, recovery and healing were interspersed throughout the service, which was marked by fervent singing and shouting, so much so that many congregants waved small fans in front of their faces. Police officers stood watch over the worshippers at the church known as "Mother Emanuel" because it is one of the oldest black congregations in the South. For added security, police officers stood watch.
"It has been tough, it's been rough, some of us have been downright angry, but through it all God has sustained us and has encouraged us. Let us not grow weary in well-doing," said the Rev. Norvel Goff, a presiding elder of the 7th District AME Church in South Carolina.
Goff was appointed to lead the historic Charleston church after Emanuel's senior pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, was shot and killed. A black sheet was draped over his usual chair, which sat empty Sunday. At least one parishioner kneeled down in front of it and prayed.
Pinckney was also a state senator and married father of two children. Goff acknowledged Father's Day and reminded people that God was the ultimate father of these nine families.
"The blood of the 'Mother Emmanuel 9' requires us to work until not only justice in this case, but for those who are still living in the margin of life, those who are less fortunate than ourselves," he said.
Sunday morning marked the first service at Emanuel since Dylann Roof, 21, sat among a Bible study group for about an hour Wednesday night before opening fire after saying that he targeted them because they were black, authorities said.
As Emanuel's congregation belted out a gospel hymn, church bells rang throughout downtown in this "Holy City" - which garnered the nickname because of the numerous churches here. Later Sunday, people were expected to gather on the Arthur Ravenel Bridge to join hands in solidarity.
The bridge's namesake is a former state lawmaker and a vocal the Confederate flag supporter. Photographs of Roof in a purported manifesto showed him holding Confederate flags and a burning American flag. It also contained hate-filled writings the author said was inspired in part by the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was acquitted of murder, and the author of the manifesto said he was in the right.
Martin's family said in a statement Sunday: "It is very unfortunate that an individual with such a vile mind and clear criminal intent would dare seek to undermine our mission of peace, in an attempt to destroy the legacy of our son."
Around the country, pastors asked people to pray for Charleston and the tragedy resonated far beyond urban areas. Congregants at a small church in rural north-central Pennsylvania signed a condolence card to send to Emanuel. The Rev. Nancy Light Hardy of St. James United Church of Christ said she debated buying the card, which seemed "pitiful and lame" when set against the "inconceivable" killings.
"But at least it lets the Charleston church know that Christians across the country are thinking about them," she said.
Despite grim circumstances Emanuel faced, the welcoming spirit Roof exploited before the shooting was still alive.
Gail Lincoln said she typically attends another AME church nearby, but felt compelled to visit Emanuel this week.
"Through all of this, God is still our refuge," Lincoln said. "I'm still heartbroken but it's gonna get better. I know it's gonna take time, day by day."
Goff said reopening the doors of Emanuel so soon after the shooting "sends a message to every demon in hell and on Earth."
Meanwhile, the FBI said it was investigating a manifesto purportedly written by Roof.
The website linked to Roof contained photos of him holding a burning American flag and standing on one. In other images, he was holding a Confederate flag, considered a divisive symbol by civil rights leaders and others.
The hate-filled 2,500-word essay talks about white supremacy, and the author says "the event that truly awakened me was the Trayvon Martin case" - the unarmed black teenager fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman while walking home in Florida in 2012.
The manifesto said "it was obvious that Zimmerman was in the right" and that the case led him to search "black on White crime" on the Internet.
"I have never been the same since that day," it said.
It's unclear whether Roof wrote the rants, but they are in line with what he has told friends and what he said before allegedly opening fire inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church Wednesday night.
Internet registry records show that the website was created Feb. 9 via a Russian registry service with the owner's personal details hidden. A man who answered the phone at the Moscow-based company would not say who the site's owner was.
Roof is being held in jail, facing nine counts of murder and a weapons charge.
A police affidavit released Friday accused Roof of shooting all nine multiple times and making a "racially inflammatory statement" as he stood over an unidentified survivor.
Roof had complained while getting drunk on vodka recently that "blacks were taking over the world" and that "someone needed to do something about it for the white race," according to Joey Meek, who tipped off the FBI when he saw his friend on surveillance images.
Just about 100 miles from Charleston, a large crowd rallied Saturday in Columbia against the presence of the Confederate flag on the grounds of the Statehouse. The church massacre has renewed calls for the removal of the flag.
Police wouldn't give an estimate for attendance, but there appeared to be hundreds, if not thousands, of people there, chanting "take it down."
"We know what that flag symbolizes," Michaela Pilar Brown, a Columbia artist, said at the rally. "We know the hate. We know the danger. It says 'stop.' It says 'you are not welcome here.' It says 'fear for your life.' Take down the flag."
In Charleston, the grief was so palpable three days after the shooting that a family re-routed its trip home from the beach and a bride-to-be interrupted her wedding day to pay their respects.
"It's been a weird feeling, trying to have a celebration this weekend. But the whole city has been so supportive and such a show of grace," said Kathryn Cole, 27, who lives two blocks away from the church and is set to say her nuptials Saturday night. "Life is carrying on. We aren't letting this change our everyday lives."
Greenville residents Stacey and Kenneth Penland arrived in Charleston for vacation Friday. During their first full day in the city, they came to the church with their children, 6-year-old Luke and 3-year-old Logan.
"We've been at the beach, and then the market, and of course we stopped by here," said Kenneth Penland.
Derrick Jones was vacationing on Hilton Head Island when he decided to drive an hour out of his way home to Greenville. He stopped at the church with his wife and three boys.
"They've been asking questions all day since this has happened," Jones said. "And I don't really have all the answers. I try to explain it the best way I can."
Roof's family made their first statement Friday afternoon.
It read, "The Roof Family would like to extend their deepest sympathies and condolences to families of the victims in Wednesday night's shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Words cannot express our shock, grief, and disbelief as to what happened that night. We are devastated and saddened by what occurred. We offer our prayers sympathy for all of those impacted by these events. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those killed this week. We have all been touched by the moving words from the victims' families offering God's forgiveness and love in the face of such horrible suffering. Our hope and prayer is for peace and healing for the families of the victims, the Charleston community, and those touched by these events throughout the state of South Carolina and our nation.
As you can imagine, words are hard to find and we would ask that the media respect our family's privacy at this time."
Meantime, Roof made his first court appearance Friday, with the relatives of all the victims making tearful statements.
They forgave him. They advised him to repent for his sins, and asked for God's mercy on his soul. One even told Roof to repent and confess, and "you'll be OK."
Relatives of the nine people shot down during a Bible study session inside their historic black church confronted the 21-year-old suspect Friday during his initial hearing. They described their pain and anger, but also spoke of love.
"I forgive you, my family forgives you," said Anthony Thompson, whose relative Myra Thompson was killed. "We would like you to take this opportunity to repent. ... Do that and you'll be better off than you are right now."
Roof was ordered held until a bond is set on murder charges. He appeared by video from the county jail, looking somber in a striped jumpsuit and speaking only briefly in response to the judge's questions.
The victims included the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a state senator who doubled as the church's lead pastor, and eight others who played multiple roles in their families and communities: ministers and coaches, teachers and a librarian, counselors and choir singers and the elderly sexton who made sure the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church was kept clean.
A police affidavit released Friday accused Roof of shooting all nine multiple times, and making a "racially inflammatory statement" as he stood over an unnamed survivor.
The families are determined not to respond in kind, said Alana Simmons, who lost her grandfather, the Rev. Daniel Simmons.
"Although my grandfather and the other victims died at the hands of hate, this is proof - everyone's plea for your soul is proof they lived in love and their legacies will live in love, so hate won't win," she said. "And I just want to thank the court for making sure that hate doesn't win."
Felecia Sanders survived the Wednesday night attack by pretending to be dead, but lost her son Tywanza. She also spoke from Chief Magistrate James Gosnell's courtroom, where Roof's image appeared on a television screen. It is not unusual in South Carolina for the families of victims to be given a chance to address the court during a bond hearing.
"We welcomed you Wednesday night in our Bible study with open arms. You have killed some of the most beautifulest people that I know. Every fiber in my body hurts ... and I'll never be the same," Sanders told Roof.
"Tywanza was my hero," Sanders added, but then even she showed some kindness to the man accused of killing her son: "As we said in Bible Study, we enjoyed you but may God have mercy on you."
PHOTOS: 9 dead after Charleston church shooting
Roof bowed his head slightly. From the jail, he could hear them talking, but couldn't see them; the camera showed only the judge.
"Charleston is a very strong community. We have big hearts. We're a very loving community," said Gosnell, who urged people to find it in their hearts to help not only the nine victims, but "victims on the young man's side of the family" as well.
Roof's public defender released a statement from his family offering prayers and sympathy for the victims, and expressing "shock, grief and disbelief as to what happened that night."
"We have all been touched by the moving words from the victims' families offering God's forgiveness and love in the face of such horrible suffering," the statement said.
The comments in court seemed in keeping with a spirit evident on the streets of Charleston Friday, where people built a memorial and thousands attended a vigil to repudiate whatever a gunman would hope to accomplish by attacking one of the nation's most important African-American sanctuaries.
"A hateful person came to this community with some crazy idea he'd be able to divide, but all he did was unite us and make us love each other even more," Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said as he described plans for the evening vigil at a sports arena.
A steady stream of people brought flowers and notes and shared somber thoughts at a growing memorial in front of the church, which President Barack Obama called "a sacred place in the history of Charleston and in the history of America."
The Justice Department announced Friday that it's investigating whether it could be a hate crime or domestic terrorism. Agency spokeswoman Emily Pierce said the slayings were "undoubtedly designed to strike fear and terror into this community."
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said the state will "absolutely" want the death penalty.
"This was an act of racial terrorism and must be treated as such," the Rev. Cornell William Brooks, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Friday in Charleston.
"This is a moment in which we say to them, the white nationalists movement, those purveyors of hate, we as Americans will not subscribe to that philosophy. We will not give up, we will not give in," Brooks said.
Roof had complained while getting drunk on vodka recently that "blacks were taking over the world" and that "someone needed to do something about it for the white race," according to Joey Meek, who tipped the FBI when he saw his friend on surveillance images.
Roof also told him he used birthday money from his parents to buy a .45 Glock pistol before the attack, Meek said. The affidavit said Roof's father and uncle also called authorities after seeing surveillance photos, and that the father said Roof owned a .45-caliber gun.
Roof was arrested across the state line and returned in shackles to a county jail where he was being held next to the cell of Michael Slager, the white former police officer charged with fatally shooting black motorist Walter Scott in neighboring North Charleston.
It was the third arrest for Roof, who was quizzed by police in February after workers at the Columbiana shopping mall said he appeared dressed entirely in black, asking strange questions about employee movements and closing times. He was charged then with possessing suboxone, a drug typically used to treat heroin addiction. A trespassing charge was added after he showed up again in April, prompting a three-year ban from the mall.
Spilling blood inside the "Mother Emanuel" church, founded in 1816, evoked painful memories of the racist violence that black churches have so often suffered, and the values their congregations have tried to uphold in response.
"For me, I'm a work in progress and I acknowledge that I'm very angry," said Bethane Middleton-Brown, who appeared in court on behalf of her sister, the Rev. DePayne Middleton Doctor. "We have no room for hate. We have to forgive. I pray God on your soul. And I also thank God I won't be around when your judgment day comes with him."
Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two and a Democrat who spent 19 years in the South Carolina legislature. The other victims were Cynthia Hurd, 54; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Myra Thompson, 59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie Jackson, 87; and the reverends DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49; Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; and Daniel Simmons Sr., 74.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this reporting.
