Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, coach of the girls' track and field team at Goose Creek High School, was killed Wednesday night. Her son, Chris Singleton, plays baseball at Charleston Southern.
Emanuel AME Church
S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney, 41, pastor of the Emanuel AME Church. Friends and political colleagues have responded with condolences.
Dylann Storm Roof, 21, of Lexington, was captured in Shelby, N.C., Thursday morning as the lone suspect in a shooting that killed nine people Wednesday at a Charleston church during Bible Study.
Sharonda Coleman-Singleton coach of the girl’s track and field team at Goose Creek High School, was among those killed during the Bible Study. Her son, Chris Singleton, is a freshman baseball player at Charleston Southern University.
Dylann Storm Roof, 21, of Lexington, identified as the suspect, was arrested during a traffic stop without incident about 11 a.m. today at Shelby, N.C., about 250 miles from Charleston. A citizen reportedly called Shelby police after seeing Roof’s vehicle, a 2000 Hyundai Elantra.
Roof reportedly attended the Bible Study meeting at the church for nearly an hour before opening fire about 9 p.m. A photo on Roof’s Facebook page shows him wearing a jacket with two flags: one flown in South Africa during apartheid, a period of racial segregation, and one from Rhodesia, an area of Africa now known as Zimbabwe.
Gov. Nikki Haley started crying during a news conference when she talked about the shooting’s effects on the Palmetto State. But she said the arrest would help South Carolina to start healing. "We woke up today and the heart and soul of South Carolina was broken. And so we have some grieving to do, and we've got some pain to go through.
"Parents are having to explain to their kids how they can go to church and feel safe, and that is not something we ever thought we’d deal with.”
The coroner confirmed all nine deaths Thursday afternoon:
• Cynthia Hurd, 54, Charleston County Public Library branch manager at St. Andrews.
• Ethel Lance, 70, who worked for 30 years at the Emanuel AME Church. She was a Gilliard Center retiree.
• Susie Jackson, 87, Ethel Lance’s cousin, was a longtime church member.
• Depayne Middleton Doctor, 49, who retired in 2005 as Charleston County director of the Community Development Block Grant Program.
• S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney, 41, pastor of the Emanuel AME Church.
• TyWanza Sanders, 26, Allen University 2014 graduate with a degree in business administration.
• Daniel L. Simmons, Sr., 74, a retired pastor from another church in Charleston, attended Emanuel AME every Sunday and Wednesday. He died in a hospital operating room.
• Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, coach of the girls’ track and field team at Goose Creek High School. She was a speech therapist at the school. Her son, Chris Singleton, is a freshman baseball player at Charleston Southern University. Emanuel AME Church’s website also identified Coleman-Singleton as a pastor.
• Myra Thompson, 59, was the wife of Anthony Thompson, Vicar at Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church.