2015 Charleston, South Carolina shooting — mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, United States
A white supremacist killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, spurring the removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina's State Capitol grounds.
Key Facts
- Date
- June 17, 2015
- Deaths
- 9 people
- Injured
- 1 person
- Perpetrator
- Dylann Roof, age 21, white supremacist
- Federal sentence
- Death (33 hate crime and murder charges)
- State sentence
- Life imprisonment without parole
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, harbored virulent racial hatred toward Black Americans. He specifically targeted Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church for its historical significance to the Black community, and published a manifesto online espousing white supremacist ideology before carrying out the attack.
On June 17, 2015, Roof attended a Bible study session at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, then opened fire on the ten African American participants. Nine people were killed, including senior pastor and state senator Clementa C. Pinckney, and one person was injured in what was among the deadliest mass shootings at a U.S. house of worship at that time.
Roof was convicted of 33 federal charges and sentenced to death in January 2017, and later pleaded guilty to nine state murder counts, receiving life imprisonment. The shooting reignited national debate over Confederate symbols, leading South Carolina to remove the Confederate battle flag from its State Capitol grounds and triggering a broader wave of Confederate monument removals across the country.