Mass murder and domestic terrorism, Charleston, South Carolina, 2015
Dylann Storm Roof was born on April 3, 1994, in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. He has been widely described in verified sources as a white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and mass murderer. No legal alias has been confirmed in the available research. Roof is alive and remains incarcerated on federal death row as of the time of this writing.
Roof's attack on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, 2015, is recognized not only as a mass murder but also as an act of domestic terrorism, targeting African-American worshipers on the basis of their race.
On the evening of June 17, 2015, Dylann Storm Roof drove to the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina — one of the oldest and most historically significant Black churches in the United States. Roof entered the church and joined a Bible study and prayer service already in progress. After spending a period of time among the worshipers, he produced a handgun and opened fire, killing nine people.
Dylann Roof født
Dylann Storm Roof fødes i Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
Massakren i Charleston
Roof åbner ild under en bibelstudie i Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church i Charleston og dræber 9 mennesker. Én person såres.
Anholdelse i Shelby, North Carolina
Morgenen efter massakren anholdes Roof i Shelby, North Carolina, USA.
Journalistisk videodækning af anholdelsen
Stern og Der Tagesspiegel offentliggør i 2015 journalistisk dækning af den frigivne politivideo, der viser anholdelsen af Roof.
Domfældt på 33 føderale tiltaler
Roof kendes skyldig i forbundsdomstolen på 33 føderale tiltaler, herunder hadforbrydelser i forbindelse med skyderierne.
Idømt dødsstraf
Forbundsdomstolen idømmer Roof dødsstraf for massakren i Charleston.
Skyldig i South Carolina-statssag
Roof indgår en tilståelsesaftale i South Carolina og erklærer sig skyldig i ni drab, tre drabsforsøg og ulovlig brug af skydevåben under en forbrydelse.
Dokumentar om Roof udsendes
Episoden 'Dylann Roof's Radical White Rage' (S3, E11) sendes — tilgængelig via Apple TV.
The attack was methodical and targeted: Roof selected a place of worship, gained the trust of those present under the guise of participating in a religious gathering, and then carried out the shooting. The U.S. Department of Justice indictment, one of the most authoritative sources on the legal specifics of the case, directly states that the attack was directed against African-American worshipers and cites the federal statutes under which Roof was charged.
Federal charges included violations of 18 U.S.C. § 247(a)(2) and § 247(d)(1), which address attacks on religious property and obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs. The death-penalty factor applied was 18 U.S.C. § 3592(c)(16), covering the intentional killing of more than one person in a single criminal episode.
Nine people were killed in the attack at Emanuel AME Church. All confirmed victims were African-American worshipers who had gathered for a Bible study and prayer service. The Emanuel AME Church, also known historically as "Mother Emanuel," has deep roots in the African-American community and the civil rights movement in South Carolina. The deliberate targeting of this specific congregation, during an act of communal worship, was central to the classification of the crime as both a hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism.
The nine victims have been referred to collectively in subsequent documentary and media coverage as the "Emanuel 9." Their families became central figures in the public and legal aftermath of the attack, including in discussions around the death penalty, forgiveness, and racial justice in the United States.
Following the shooting on the evening of June 17, 2015, Roof fled the scene. He was
Roof was prosecuted in federal court in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. His confession was presented as key evidence during the trial proceedings; CBS News reported on prosecutors playing Roof's confession tape to the jury. On January 10, 2017, Roof was sentenced to death in federal court. State-court proceedings also resulted in a death sentence. Roof remains imprisoned.
Jail records from the period of his incarceration have been documented and made publicly available through the Courthouse News Service, providing further verified documentation of his legal status and treatment in custody. Later reporting by FOX59 News covered Roof's conduct in prison, including a reported hunger strike.
The Charleston church massacre and Dylann Roof's prosecution have generated significant media and documentary coverage since 2015.
In 2018, the UNC School of the Arts released No Sanctuary, a documentary focused on the Emanuel 9 families, their reactions, and the broader aftermath of Roof's attack. This remains the most clearly verified documentary directly connected to the case in the available research.
Several true-crime podcast programs have covered the case. True Crime Garage, Southern Horrors, and Casefile have each produced episodes on the Charleston church shooting and Dylann Roof, though specific episode titles, precise broadcast years, and publisher details could not be fully verified from the sources reviewed for this profile.
Major journalism outlets including CBS News provided extensive trial coverage, including reporting on the confession evidence presented to jurors. News video documentation of the trial and of Roof's post-conviction incarceration has been preserved across multiple platforms. No widely released theatrical feature film directly based on Dylann Roof or the Charleston church shooting was identified in the verified research.
The case continues to be referenced in discussions of domestic terrorism, hate crime legislation, and racial violence in the United States.