Ex-Mount Vernon Mayor Clinton Young's cousin survives Charleston shooting rampage

MOUNT VERNON (WABC) -- Several of the victims in the Charleston church massacre have ties to the Tri-State Area, including a survivor whose cousin is the former mayor of Mount Vernon.

Clinton Young was baptized at Emanuel Ame Church and still has family who attends services there. His 81-year-old cousin, Doris Coaxum-Sanders, was inside the church before the violence erupted.

"I got on the phone immediately," Young said. "My family, six generations, at Emmanuel."

Young may have been in Mount Vernon Wednesday, but all his thoughts and emotions centered on his hometown of Charleston -- where he lived until he was eight -- and the church where he was baptized.

"It is such a magnificent edifice," he said. "You actually walk in, and it's a very large church. You can feel the spirit of those who built that church."

Young's family is still part of the congregation, and Coaxum-Sanders was at the meeting that ended when Dylann Roof opened fire. In a phone interview, she tells Eyewitness News that she did not see the young suspect accused of doing the unthinkable -- killing eight of her fellow churchgoers and their pastor.

"Really feeling that God had spared me from something that could have been very, very tragic and devastating to my family," she said.

Coaxum-Sanders remains active member in the historic church, and she admits questioning why she was spared.

"The one question that I've asked over and over again is why?" she said. "And that why, it came from my belief in God, and so I'm still searching for an answer."

As for Young, he visits Charleston each year and says he's looking forward to celebrating at Emmanuel again.

"It is a strong congregation," he said. "It is a congregation who, again, has a deep history, and they will survive. They will definitely survive."