Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Police Chief Announces Suspects Arrest in Church Shooting; Bakari Sellers Talks about Friend, Shooting Victim Rev. Clementa Pinckney; High School Friend Talks Dylann Roof. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 18, 2015 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00] DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Officials told me that ballistic investigators are going to have to run tests on that gun to find out whether shell casings found at the massacre scene in fact match whatever gun Dylann Roof would have in his possession, whether it be another gun. They are going to have to look at where he was in that 14-hour period, whether he returned to home, whether he returned to another location, and they clearly want to make sure that there's no additional threat.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: And we still don't know a lot about Roof. I know we're still trying to go through and learn more about this individual.

But, Jonathan, we do know that the shooter sat in the church, according to investigators, for about an hour before he opened fire. What does that tell you about this individual?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: That tells me -- I have to look at this from a psychopathic tendency. To be able to go in there and sit and actually, you know, make eye contact with these people, listen to them pray, partake in their peaceful meeting, and then take them out, this just tells me that you're dealing with somebody who does not have a conscience.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: The fact that he may have used a handgun that seems so personal.

GILLIAM: This whole situation was up close and personal. It was a very intimate setting. He sat there. He was able to watch them in an intimate way and systematically kill them. This is somebody whose conscience has either never been there or left a long time ago.

CABRERA: Very quickly, Deb, I know that this is under investigation as a hate crime. We do know, according to the southern poverty law center, there are several hate groups that have been identified, including a handful of white supremacist groups. Any connections that investigators are making at this time?

FEYERICK: Right now they are not saying whether there are connections but you can bet that there are going to be search warrants, subpoenas for computers, for any documents he may have had in his house, cell phones, anything that might point them in a better direction as to what he was thinking. And again, once they do the tests on the guns, they are going to want to look at whether that gun was used in that crime because that's a possibility as well. They have a lot of work to do to put this case together.

CABRERA: Absolutely.

Deborah Feyerick, Jonathan Gilliam, thank you both so much.

Any moment now the coroner is expected to hold a news conference so we can learn more about the victims. We're watching for that.

We'll also speak live with someone who knew the pastor, Clementa Pinckney, on of the victims in this case. Stay tuned for CNN's live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:44] CABRERA: We're back with our breaking news. A community on edge. A massacre inside a historic black church. I can tell you now, the suspected gunman has been caught after an intense manhunt. 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof was captured after someone recognized his car. Police say Roof sat with the worshippers for one hour during a Bible study and stood up and said he was there to shoot black people. When it was all over, nine people, including the pastor, were killed.

President Obama spoke on this a couple of hours ago, calling it particularly heartbreaking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Any death of this sort is a tragedy. Any shooting involving multiple victims is a tragedy. There is something particularly heartbreaking about death happening in a place in which we seek solace and we seek peace, in a place of worship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I want to go back to my colleague, John Berman. He's on the ground in South Carolina -- John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Ana.

Just behind me we're seeing the first people actually walking on the streets here. That's Calhoun Street where the Emanuel AME Church, Mother Emanuel, is located. We were just told by an official that we're going to open the street completely within the next half an hour, which is remarkable, given what happened there just last night at about 9:00 p.m. when the suspect, Dylann Roof, opened fire and killing nine people, six women and three men.

We want to focus on those that we lost. Overnight, the community knew almost right away it was the pastor at this church, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney. He was also a state Senator and also a father to two young children and also, by all accounts, a great friend. I'm joined right now by someone who did call the reverend friend.

Bakari Sellers, a former state representative, who served with him in the state legislature.

But I think your friendship went way beyond politics.

STATE REP. BAKARI SELLERS, (D) SOUTH CAROLINA & FRIEND OF REVEREND CLEMENTA PINCKNEY: Well, you know, one of the things that Senator Pinckney taught me and just by the way that he worked and not just he but I think about people like Shirley Franklin and Jim Clyburn, they taught me it was about public service. He was a true servant. He loved to serve his constituents and the lord. This is a very difficult day. We really miss him. This is a difficult day for us all. We remember those two girls, two children, excuse me, who are going into Father's Day without their father, and that's heartbreaking and sad.

BERMAN: It's a tragedy to us all and to the families of those nine people had their lives lost yesterday.

What does it mean to you or how important is it to you in this city that you think the suspect is now in custody. I don't want to tell people what you just said to the sheriff here, but I think there is satisfaction that they have a suspect in custody.

[14:40:14] SELLERS: I have to give kudos to the FBI. I have to give kudos to the sheriff. Our community has come together. This entire state has come together. I listened to Nikki Haley weep, and we, trust me, haven't agreed on many issues in the state of South Carolina.

BERMAN: She was crying out of genuine grief.

SELLERS: This isn't about black or white or about Republican or Democrat. This is about bringing our community together. We understand that we've made a lot of progress. And we understand that each time they mention a new name, it rips a piece of our soul out of us. Each time we hear about a new victim, each time they call a victim by name, you understand it's was mother, grandmother, father, sister, brother, it takes something out of us.

We'll get to the bottom of it. There are policy issues that will come from this. We are one of five states without a hate crime law. We understand how guns are very prevalent in our communities. We'll talk about all of those things.

But right now the progress that we made in the Deep South, the progress that we made in South Carolina is so fragile that I refuse to let anybody else tear apart the great works of the heroes that have come before us. So, as someone who wants to one day be called a leader, like Clementa Pinckney, all I can do is pray and remain vigilant and hopeful. And I am on this never-ending quest for justice.

BERMAN: One of the ironies is the suspect, Dylann Roof, sat in the room with them for an hour before he opened fire. And you would presume it was welcomed into that room. Someone who we don't believe knew in any way, was welcomed into their Bible study for an hour.

SELLERS: That gives me a smile because it shows the good Christian that Senator Pinckney was. It shows the good Christians in that church. I mean, that is what the church is, especially in the south. I mean, just come, come to us. You know, come as you are. Let us hug you and pray with you and for you. And they gave this young man their trust and prayer circle. But there's something about evil. But I guarantee you, if Senator Pinckney was here today, he would tell you that joy cometh in the morning.

BERMAN: He's obviously here with you and he's still here in this community and will be for a long, long time.

SELLERS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Bakari Sellers, thank you so much for joining us

Ana?

CABRERA: Thanks, John.

Now any moment, the coroner will hold a news conference on the victims. We'll take you there if we can bring it to you live.

Plus, we're getting new details about the interrogation of the suspect. And I'll speak live with someone who knew him.

This is CNN's special breaking news coverage. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:42] CABRERA: Charleston, South Carolina, a city in mourning after nine people were killed at Emanuel AME Church. It's the oldest black church in the south, according to the church's website. Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal dates back to the 1791 era when the congregation was first formed. It burned to the ground in 1822 and was later rebuilt. It was prominent during the civil rights movement.

We're going to talk more about its significance, and joining me Reverend Mark Kelly Tyler from Mother Bethel, the AME Church in Philadelphia.

Reverend Tyler, thank you for joining me. I appreciate it.

It's a sad day. I imagine you have a lot on your mind today. What were you thinking when you heard about the shooting?

REV. MARK KELLY TYLER, AME CHURCH MEMBER, PHILADELPHIA: Well, thank you, Ana, for having us and lifting up just the importance of this congregation and the persons who lost their lives.

When I first heard the news, it was really disbelief and shock mixed together. I did not want to believe that it was true. Reverend Clementa Pinckney is not just a clergy colleague but also a friend. And so I kind of started getting the word about 11:00 that it was likely that there were at least eight fatalities, including Reverend Pinckney. I stayed glued to the TV for the next several hours until it was official. I am just heartbroken. On behalf of AME members, we are on five continents, 39 countries, that this is a blow that hits all of us as though these were members of our very own congregation.

CABRERA: And sadly, we know there is a history of violence against African-American churches. Does your church ever get threats?

TYLER: Well, Mother Bethel, there are historic long guns from the late -- I guess the late 1700s, early 1800s, and they are there as a symbolic reminder that during the period of the abolition movement that very oftentimes the church members had to fight off mobs of people who wanted to burn the church down because it stood as a symbol of freedom and we often use the building as a place to resist slavery and in the modern era we continue to use the building to talk about the need for public education funding and the need for living wages for workers and an end to "Stop and Frisk" and things that are important in this generation. So I think that it goes without saying that many of our churches often become targets simply because, you know, we believe that it's a part of our faith to stand up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

[14:50:27] CABRERA: The timing of this shooting tragedy is striking. The country, as you know, has been very tense lately after the string of police shootings involving people of color, including a very controversial shooting in north Charleston, involving Walter Scott, where the officer who shot Scott ended up being indicted, and now there is this direct, blatant attack on African-Americans, little reminiscent of the 1963 bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama. It galvanized the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Do you see this as history repeating itself? What do you see will come of this?

TYLER: It's not just the incident, sadly. I couldn't watch what happened in McKinney, Texas, at the swimming pool, for example, without drawing the comparison to all of the different events that happened in the '60s as African-Americans tried to desegregate swimming pools and were in prayer. It's not just simply this issue but, in so many ways, we are reliving this. I think what it suggests is that every generation has to fight for itself. That these battles are not won and done but we have to continue to be vigilant.

Reverend Pinckney was a person who was absolutely committed to the rights of not just African-Americans but all of those that would face any kind of, you know, disenfranchisement. He was a person who fought for everyone, especially the underdog. I think that's something that really speaks to the legacy of what the African Methodist Episcopal Church is, not just in Charleston or Philadelphia, but around the world.

CABRERA: Absolutely.

Reverend Mark Kelly Tyler, thanks for your time.

TYLER: Thank you. CABRERA: Our hearts and thoughts are with you and your families as well going through all this.

TYLER: Thank you. We're praying for Mrs. Pinckney and her family as well.

CABRERA: Absolutely.

Up next, while investigators focus on the suspected gunman, we'll talk to someone who went to high school with the shooter. He's going to join us live, right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:49] BERMAN: All right. John Berman, in South Carolina.

Behind me is the Mother Emanuel Church, the AME Church. And seconds ago -- after this truck goes by you can see it -- they opened the street. They opened Calhoun Street where this church is. They had closed it since the shooting. Now it's opened to traffic for the first time. The church itself is still closed and I imagine it will be closed for some time. It's a crime scene, the scene where last night, at 9:00, Dylann Roof, 21 years old, allegedly killed nine people, three men and six women, after sitting with them for more than an hour in a prayer service.

We want to focus on the victims, but there are questions about this suspect, what drove him to do what he did. What do we know about his past that may have led him to do something so awful, so evil?

Joining us now is someone who went to high school with the suspect, and he is still just a suspect. The friend's name is John Mullins.

John, can you hear me?

JOHN MULLINS, WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH DYLANN ROOF: Yeah, I can hear you.

BERMAN: So you went to high school with Dylann Roof, with him in Lexington, South Carolina. Tell me about him in high school. Who did he socialize with? Was he a loner?

MULLINS: I wouldn't say he was much of a loner. He mingled between all the people. But if you asked if I thought this was something that he would do.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Did he have any African-American friends?

MULLINS: He did, actually. My friend Tray and Leslie -- I'm not going to say their last names. But that is how I associated with him most of the time, was through them.

BERMAN: Was there any indication that you saw that he held any animosity? MULLINS: I don't want to say these kinds of things. It was nothing

too bad but just some race to them, I guess.

BERMAN: Racist slurs?

MULLINS: Yeah, things like that.

BERMAN: So at the time, he said things that were racial slurs but you did not take them seriously.

Any signs of violence in high school?

MULLINS: No. He was just, like, calm. That's why this was such a shock. Because he's never really bucked up at anybody or anybody like that. But he was -- he was kind of wild, too, but nothing like violently.

BERMAN: When you say wild, what kind of wild? I understand you --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: -- there was some drug use.

MULLINS: Yeah.

BERMAN: Teenager and drugs. I heard you say he was into drug use. Explain.

MULLINS: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Tell me about -- I've heard you say he used drugs in high school. Tell me more about that.

MULLINS: Just the people that -- I mean, just the people he would be around I guess.