Gunman Opens Fire Inside A U.S Church, Killing Nine Parishioners Including The Pastor!

17 June, 2015, will be remembered as a dark Wednesday for a long time, following the killing of  nine people, including the state Senator Celementa Pinckney, who was also the pastor of the church, at downtown Charleston in South Carolina- United states.

Police boss Greg Mullen said the suspect attended a prayer meeting at the church Wednesday night, at about 9pm, and stayed for nearly an hour before he opened fire. 

The shooter, who was later caught on a surveillance video, remained at large as at Thursday 18, June, 2015, morning. 


Police released photographs from the surveillance video of the suspect and a possible getaway vehicle. 

The victims were six females and three males, Mullen said Thursday morning. He did not give other details and said names would be released after families were notified.

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where Parishioners worshiped underground until after the Civil War, is a historic African-American church that traces its roots to 1816, when several churches split from Charleston's Methodist Episcopal church.

One of its founders, Denmark Vesey, tried to organize a slave revolt in 1822. He was caught, and white landowners had his church burned in revenge. 

Authorities described Charleston's church shooting as a hate crime.

Late Senator Celementa Pinckney, Pastor at downtown Charleston