**Updated: Suspected Charleston Shooter Dylann Roof Arrested, Manhunt Over
Evidence mounts for hate crime designation
**Update: It's confirmed. Roof was arrested in Shelby, North Carolina.
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*Update: WBTV News claims Roof was apprehended by police. (Original story is below.)
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Authorities have identified a 21-year-old Columbia, South Carolina, native as the perpetrator of the horrific attack on the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston last night that left 9 people dead.
The suspect, Dylann Roof, was caught on security camera footage outside the church. He was previously arrested for trespassing on April 26. WISTV.com claims that he was also previously arrested for drug-related charges. He is still at large.
Roof attended White Knoll High School, according to his Facebook page. His profile picture depicts him wearing two patches on his jacket. Twitter users have identified these patches as symbols from apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia, an unrecognized nation that rebelled against black majority rule.
Emanuel AME is a historically black church. Roof opened fire during a Bible study meeting around 9 p.m. on Wednesday after sitting and waiting for an hour. He told one woman he was sparing her so that she could "spread the word." According to NBC News:
Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of church shooting victim Pastor Clementa Pinckney says she spoke with one of the survivors "and she said that he had reloaded five different times… and he just said 'I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country. And you have to go.'"
Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney—a civil rights activist and state senator—was killed during the shooting, along with two other men and six women.
The attack is considered a hate crime.
