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Nancy Grace
Man Storms Church Prayer Meeting, Kills Nine People. Aired 8:30-9p ET
Aired June 18, 2015 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Charleston, South Carolina. A 21-year-old man universally described as a quiet loner enters
Emanuel AME Methodist Church in downtown Charleston, the jewel in the crown of AME Methodist churches across this country.
Bombshell tonight. He sits quietly during an hour-long prayer meeting in the fellowship hall, then erupts in deadly violence, gunning down,
murdering nine innocent people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This tragedy...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A gunman opening fire inside of an historic black church.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have made an arrest in this case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We woke up today...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) racism (INAUDIBLE) bigotry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do we have to live like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This horrific, tragic event happened in the city of Charleston.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The heart and soul of South Carolina is broken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Tonight, live to Charleston, South Carolina. A 21-year-old man described as a quiet loner enters Emanuel AME Methodist church, downtown Charleston.
It is the jewel in the crown of AME Methodist churches across this country.
He sits quietly among the congregants during an hour-long prayer meeting in the fellowship hall. And then out of nowhere, he erupts in deadly
violence, gunning down, murdering nine innocent people in a house of worship.
Straight out to Brian Todd, CNN correspondent, joining us at the scene. Brian, what do we know about what took place in that fellowship hall?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Nancy, we know that the suspect, Dylann Roof, according to authorities, went into the church
and sat there for about an hour, according to authorities, before he actually opened fire.
We have also found out a little bit more about his recent arrest record. We`re actually in Columbia, South Carolina, in the area of his hometown,
and we`ve been kind of checking around in court records and with officials here about his recent arrest record.
He was arrested in February at a South Carolina mall after employees at a Bath & Body Works claimed that a white male dressed all in black was
asking, quote, "out of the ordinary questions," according to one of the court reports, possibly a police report there. He was asking questions
about how many associates were working, what time they were leaving. He was arrested after police found illegal drugs on him that are used to treat
addiction.
Two months later, he was arrested again for trespassing in the parking lot of the same mall. He had been ignoring a one-year ban that the mall issued
after that arrest in February. So he has had recent run-ins with the law here in the Columbia, South Carolina, area.
We also found out that he kind of bounced around various schools in the Columbia, South Carolina, area. He went to White Knoll High School for the
9th grade and had to repeat the 9th grade before he left in early 2010, and then went to another high school called Dreher High School in Columbia,
South Carolina. He went there until the end of the 9th grade.
And we`re trying to dig around to see where he might have gone after that. We cannot find a school that he attended after the 9th grade (INAUDIBLE)
not go to school, but we haven`t found that yet, Nancy. So we`re learning a little bit more about this suspect`s background.
GRACE: With me right now, Brian Todd, CNN correspondent, on the story. We`re learning about the rap sheet of this guy who`s been described by many
as a quiet loner.
Let`s see those video surveillance pictures of this guy. His name is Dylann Storm Roof, age 21, again, described as quiet, shy. This is him
going into the Methodist church, the Emanuel AME church, the jewel in the crown of Methodist churches and AME churches all across this country.
He goes in through a side door, goes down a set of stairs to the fellowship hall. It`s Wednesday night. It`s choir practice. It`s prayer meeting.
It`s bible study at Emanuel. That`s what was going on. And he sits there quietly soaking in the service before he erupts in violence, gunning down,
killing nine so far.
Brian Todd still with us there. Could you tell me what happened, Brian? What do we know happened? I know one of the victims, Daniel Simmons, Sr.,
died in transport. He managed to live through the shooting, and his family thought he was going to make it to the hospital. He didn`t. He died en
route. He was this close to being saved at the hospital.
[20:05:15]What about the others?
TODD: Well, we know that there were a couple of survivors, and one of them said that he spoke to the people in the room as he was shooting. And you
know, there are various accounts of what he might have said. We have to be careful about that at this point about kind of relaying that information.
But he did speak to them. And again, we know he sat down for an hour before he opened fire. There were children in the church at the time. Not
clear if any of them were among the injured, though we don`t believe they were. But the nine people killed were all adults.
So you know, Nancy, there were a couple of survivors, and they relate stories of him speaking to them during the shooting. And it`s just
chilling to think about that when you think about what he was doing inside that church.
GRACE: Brian Todd with us, CNN correspondent, at the scene.
You are seeing victims of this deadly shooting, many of them pastors, Myra Thompson, teaching bible study, Reverend Simmons, Reverend Middleton, Ethel
Lance, Susie Jackson, Cynthia Hurd, worked for the public library, Clementa Pinckney, state senator, Tywanza Sanders, a young man, just graduate of
Allen University, Columbia, Reverend Charonda Singleton, a speech therapist and track coach, also a reverend there. Her son played on a baseball team.
She leaves behind him and her husband. They`re all dead because of Dylann Storm Roof.
To Jay Harper, news director, WQSC, also joining us there in Charleston. You know what? There is no doubt. The guy is caught on video, all right?
There he is walking in. Everybody saw him. He has been identified.
What is alleged that he said to these innocent people in a prayer meeting when he gunned them down?
JAY HARPER, WQSC (via telephone): Nancy, as you just alluded to, it has been reported by various sources that this young man proclaimed that he had
arrived to kill black people. It`s so disturbing on so many levels.
But Charleston being the inclusive, friendly, warm, loving community that it is, I think it speaks volumes when you have a black church that welcomed
this young man into their bible study and was with them for an hour, and then elects to just take innocent lives...
GRACE: Well, I`ve got to tell you something, Jay Harper. I can...
HARPER: ... in a flurry of gunfire. It`s just insane.
GRACE: I can just imagine it. Jay Harper joining me, news director, WQSC, right there in Charleston. The policy of us Methodists is that when you
see a visitor, you welcome them in. You express joy that they have come. And I can only imagine the warm welcome that this man got when he came
there to Emanuel AME.
This church stands for so much more than just AME and Methodism. Martin Luther King once spoke at this church, his wife, Coretta Scott King, at
this church, Booker T. Washington at this church. This church, as I said, a crown and a jewel of Methodist churches all across this country. This is
believed to be the oldest AME church in the country.
Jay Harper, what, if anything, prompted him to stand up and start shooting? Many of his victims are ladies, are women, and elderly men. I -- I`m
confounded. And to sit there with his victims for an hour as they worshipped Christ and worshipped God, and then to unleash a hail of bullets
on them?
I mean people all across this country were in prayer meeting and choir practice and bible study Wednesday night. Everybody knows it. And he went
there, and he knew these victims would be trapped in that fellowship hall, Jay.
[20:10:07]HARPER: It is just absolutely confounding. On my morning show this morning, my partner, John Dixon (ph) and I on WQSC radio, we had these
same questions. I know it`s our job to give the facts as best we know them to our listeners and speak of these issues, but we were almost held
speechless this morning, Nancy. There`s just no explanation.
If there is any consolation, if that`s the right word, is that they did apprehend him fairly soon and did apprehend him alive.
GRACE: Well, I know that. I want to figure out what exactly happened.
John Mullins, who knows the suspect in this case, who knows Dylann Storm Roof -- John Mullins thank you so much for being with us.
JOHN MULLINS, KNOWS SHOOTING SUSPECT (via telephone): You`re welcome.
GRACE: You went to school with him?
MULLINS: I did, yes, whenever I was in 9th grade.
GRACE: And -- so you were together in high school. What can you tell me about him? What would possess him? Was he full of hatred even then?
MULLINS: No, he was not. He was -- I don`t even know why he even thought this would be (INAUDIBLE) what even started in his head that he would go
and kill all these innocent people in a church.
GRACE: What was he like when you knew him in high school?
MULLINS: I mean, just like the average teenager, I guess, you know, the wild and calmness and the type of person with all the hormones and stuff
raging.
GRACE: Did he get in trouble in high school?
MULLINS: Not that I`m aware of.
GRACE: Then what leads you to say raging hormones?
MULLINS: Like, he was just like a teenager, just kind of, like, he had his angry moments, you know, the hormones. (INAUDIBLE) starting to go through,
like, with puberty and stuff, you start acting a certain way.
GRACE: Well, when you say he had his angry moments, did you witness any of them?
MULLINS: I mean, yes. It was just he was mad. He didn`t really -- it wasn`t like...
GRACE: Like mad at what? I mean, in the 9th grade, you`re not out working, making a living. You`ve got a roof over your head and food on the
table and shoes on your feet. What`s to be mad about?
MULLINS: I don`t know what he was mad about.
GRACE: How did you know he was mad?
MULLINS: Well, you can sometimes tell when somebody`s mad just the way they act, you know, just kind of all quiet and they just look mad.
GRACE: And you chalk that off to him going through puberty. What do you know, if anything, about his family?
MULLINS: I actually don`t know anything about his family.
GRACE: So you know him from school. And when you say he just seemed mad - - did he ever tell you why or did he ever say why?
MULLINS: No. He just -- I mean, he wouldn`t talk about those kinds of things.
GRACE: You know, in all of his photos, we keep seeing kind of a scowl. Is that the way he was in the 9th grade?
MULLINS: No, not at all, actually. Like I said, his profile pictures on Facebook -- they`re weird. I don`t know. I don`t -- they`re odd, the way
he`s presenting himself in them.
GRACE: Did he ever date anybody in high school?
MULLINS: Not that I`m aware of.
GRACE: Was he in any clubs? Did he have a lot of friends?
MULLINS: He didn`t have a lot of friends, but he was -- I don`t think he was in any clubs, either.
GRACE: When you say he didn`t have a lot of friends -- why?
MULLINS: I guess he just wasn`t a good friend maker back in high school.
GRACE: Also joining me now, a special guest is joining us, Reverend John Paul Brown is with us. Pastor Raphael Warnock is with us.
First to you, senior pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church. Pastor, thank you for being with us.
PASTOR RAPHAEL WARNOCK, EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH: Thank you for having me.
GRACE: Pastor, I`m sure that last night, you, like my family and these families, were in your church. This guy knew when he went into that church
what he would find. What can you tell me of your knowledge of this church, Pastor?
WARNOCK: Well, our hearts go out to the people of the Emanuel AME church. You know, the black church in America was really born fighting for freedom,
so this kind of assault in a church is an assault on our humanity and an assault on our freedom.
These are spaces where we gather to pray, to organize and to struggle for justice. There would not be a Civil Rights movement without the black
church. And so that`s why churches were bombed during the 1960s. Four little girls lost their lives in a Birmingham church in 1963. Dr. King`s
own mother was tragically killed in 1974, June, just 41 years ago...
[20:15:14]GRACE: You know what, Pastor?
WARNOCK: ... this very month.
GRACE: Killed -- MLK`s mother killed at the organ in the church...
WARNOCK: Playing "The Lord`s Prayer," that`s right.
GRACE: ... while playing "The Lord`s Prayer," and my office prosecuted that crime. Sure did. The Fulton district attorney, Lewis Slaton (ph),
prosecuted that crime. Sure did. And it just seems like of all the victims of anywhere you could go, the most innocent, into a house of God.
Joey Hudson joining me, WGTK. Joey, everybody seems to be shying away, like, Hey, we don`t want to report what he said. That`s too inflammatory.
Well, he`s killed nine people, according to witnesses. I think that`s what`s inflammatory. But his hate-filled words is the icing on this cake.
Joey Hudson, what did he say before he started shooting?
JOEY HARPER, WGTK (via telephone): Nancy, obviously, Dylann Roof was a troubled young man. It`s reported that he allegedly said, and I`m quoting,
"I have to do this. You rape our women and you`re taking over our country, and you have to go."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:21:24]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bible study class interrupted by gunfire.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The heart and soul of South Carolina was broken.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is senseless and it is unfathomable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only reason someone could walk into a church and shoot people praying is out of hate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The country in mourning tonight, as is Charleston, South Carolina, where Emanuel AME church has fallen victim to this man, according to
witnesses. A 21-year-old young man here is caught on surveillance video going into Emanuel, Dylann Storm Roof.
Last night at the 8:00 o`clock our, across this country, people were in houses of worship praying. Choir practice is every Wednesday night, cherub
choir for the little children, family night suppers, potlucks, bible study, prayer meetings. And that`s just what was happening at this AME church in
the heart of Charleston.
Roof allegedly goes in through a side door and goes down to the fellowship hall, where he sits with his victims for an hour before he erupts in deadly
violence, claiming the lives of nine so far.
With me right now, Pastor Raphael Warnock and Reverend John Paul Brown, friend of the pastor killed in the shooting, pastor at Mount Zion AME.
Reverend Brown, thank you for being with us.
REV. JOHN PAUL BROWN, FRIEND OF MURDERED PASTOR: Thank you for having us.
GRACE: Reverend Brown, I am so sorry. I, like you, am a Methodist and have been in many, many AME churches. That church, Emanuel AME, is
absolutely beautiful. And to go there at 8:00 o`clock knowing -- he would know what you would find going on inside Emanuel.
You knew the pastor. What can you tell us?
BROWN: Well, first, we got a call from Councilman Bobby Mitchell here in the city of Charleston with disbelief. We came to the scene. We were
hearing of victims in the church. They were even cordoned off.
The mayor, Mayor Riley, and Chief Mullen allowed the church community access toward healing and coming together. We were notified also by our
bishop, Bishop Richard Franklin Norris, bishop of the (INAUDIBLE) AME church, a call for calm and prayer and unity. We were still in disbelief
and hoping that every moment, whatever was being said was not true.
But eventually, it came to fruition that there was eight bodies in the church, another one on the way to the hospital, and just recently knowing
that the other one at the hospital had -- that did go to the hospital succumbed there.
The community is trying to heal. The call is for calm. We`ve not been able yet to really deal with the emotions because our prayers, our hope is
for the victims.
[20:25:08]HARPER: And Nancy, we are so grateful for the outpouring of love toward what has happened here all across the nation, President Obama, Vice
President Biden, Governor Nikki Haley, all over, that has come in. So whatever this young man sought to do is bringing about opposite.
But Nancy, there`s another part to this. People who are allowed to have guns and access to it, whether they are hate mongers or whether the legal
system wants to first find out some mental condition -- and I wonder in this country, under the amount of violence that we suffer, did they ever
think that evil does exist, that there is evil in the world, that it does raise its ugly head?
And for people who were going to a place where they knew, Nancy, that it was the safest place in the world for anybody to be, in a church setting,
to be dealt with in such a way and the gory scenes and the details that are coming forth, it`s going to take a lot of healing. But thank God for...
GRACE: Well, I`ve got to tell you, Pastor -- Reverend John Paul Brown with me -- you are much stronger in your faith than me when you speak of
forgiveness and healing because you know what? My mother and father were in their little Methodist church last night at 8:00 o`clock. And if a
gunman had let loose in there the way this guy did at Emanuel AME, I don`t think I could be facing healing and forgiveness right now! With me...
BROWN: Let me ask you a question, Nancy.
GRACE: Yes, sir.
BROWN: Let me ask you a question. If we retaliate with the same vengeance that he lashed out with, then what would we become? Wouldn`t that...
GRACE: As bad as him. As bad as him.
BROWN: Wouldn`t we have to find a way to love? Yes.
GRACE: Yes. Yes.
BROWN: Wouldn`t we become the same way? So we lean on our faith in God to know that he`s in control and that something good is going to come out of
something as worse than this, but to never let anybody change the love that is in us toward humanity.
We have to keep that. We have to fight to keep it, even in our anger, even in our tears, even in our hurt. No matter what, we have to fight to keep
it.
GRACE: With me, Reverend John Paul Brown, along with Pastor Raphael Warnock.
At this moment we have just obtained video of the defendant, Dylann Storm Roof, age 21. Here you see him calm, cool and collected, wearing a
bulletproof vest, I see, being taken to the police car. This is out of Charlotte.
Tonight, we are remembering the victims, and at the same time seeking justice.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:32:23] MAYOR JOSEPH RILEY JR. (D), CHARLESTON: The most intolerable and unbelievable act possible.
POLICE CHIEF GREGORY MULLEN, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA: It is senseless, unfathomable and this horrific tragic event happened in the city of
Charleston.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are communities trying to live and survive. Why do we have to live like this?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: We have just obtained this video of the alleged perpetrator doing a perp walk getting back into the police vehicle. There
he is. It`s amazing that something -- somebody this frail looking could cause so much grief and pain and misery.
According to sources, he goes into Emanuel AME in the heart of Charleston, South Carolina, sits for an hour in last night`s prayer meeting and bible
study before he unleashes, killing nine so far. There he is in a bulletproof vest. They`re protecting him. Nobody was protecting anybody
in Emanuel AME last night, nor did they think they had to.
In a house of God here in this country, this evil and violence let loose. You know one of the pastors, Pastor Warnock just said, did you ever think -
- it was Pastor Brown said, did you ever think that there is evil? That he`s not insane, he`s not mentally deficient, he`s just evil?
Let`s just think about that for a minute.
Justin Freiman, help me analyze what happened. What do we know about the timeline and what do we know about the layout of Emanuel AME?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: OK, Nancy, Dylann Roof according to police walks in around 8:00. He goes in a side entrance that basically
leads right into the basement, which is huge, full of tables and chairs, where there`s 12 people there for prayer and he sits down with them. And
it`s not until about an hour later that he actually opens fire. According to some witnesses there, he actually said, "I have to do it. You rape our
women and you`re taking over our country and you have to go."
Also it`s been said that a witness said that one of the people he kept alive saying that he`s not going to kill her, he`s going to spare the
person so that they can tell the world what happened. It`s really horrifying. He then leaves. He gets in his car and he drives away in the
direction of North Carolina, whether of course we know that he was eventually caught.
He`s caught four hours away. He had time to go a lot farther, so we still wanting to know why didn`t he go even farther out, and what did he do over
that period of time before he was caught?
[20:35:06] GRACE: "You rape our women? You`ve got to die?" Weren`t six of these victims women?
FREIMAN: That`s right, Nancy, they were.
GRACE: I don`t even want to hear about insanity because isn`t it true, Jay Harper, WQSC, isn`t it true he had two hours that he was driving to this
location. He was in the car alone for two hours to plan this. He went into the church with that gun, most likely in a fanny pack turned around
front, and he sat there, sat there quiet, looking around. He knew who his victims were. He knew who was in that room around him.
And he unleashed, killing nine people, including the pastor, including six women and one young man that had just graduated college that was helping
out at the church. Isn`t it true he had plenty of time to think about this, Jay Harper?
JAY HARPER, NEWS DIRECTOR, WQSC 1340: Absolutely. You are absolutely correct, Nancy. Again, Dylann Roof from Lexington, South Carolina, again
that is in the Columbia, South Carolina, area. A good two, two hour and 20 minute drive down to Charleston.
There`s no doubt that this was a vicious, evil, premeditated act to specifically target, I think, to specifically target, as you`ve been
calling it, the crown jewel of AME churches in the heart of what`s called the holy city.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:41:26] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This tragedy --
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: A gunman opening fire inside of an historic black church.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have made an arrest in this case.
GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: We woke up today --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is racism. There may be bigotry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do we have to live like this?
MULLEN: This horrific tragic event happened in the city of Charleston.
HALEY: The heart and soul of South Carolina is broken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Last night in the 8:00 hour all across this country, Christians joining for prayer meetings, bible study, choir practice. That was torn
apart, went asunder at the Emanuel AME Church in the heart of Charleston where this young man, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, allegedly attends bible
study in the fellowship hall. And after sitting with these people listening to them, talking to them for one hour, stands up and unleashes a
hail of bullets, killing nine so far.
Unleash the lawyers. Carissa Kranz, Robert Schalk, Jeff Gold.
All right. Robert Schalk, he`s been identified. There`s not a question as to who he is. Give me one reason, just one, why he should not get the
death penalty for this.
ROBERT SCHALK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The only thing I can think of is age. I mean, he`s a young kid, he`s 21 years old. That`s the only thing you can
really fall back on here.
GRACE: Really?
SCHALK: I mean, this -- this is a stipulated trial at this point in time. You know he did it. He`s videotaped going in.
GRACE: So you`re saying age. You know that there was another young man that he gunned down in his early 20s.
What about it, Gold?
JEFF GOLD, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I`m not going to say a whole lot for him but obviously if there was a trial, his age, what his mental state was --
GRACE: He just said it.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Did you say mental state? Mental state?
Liz, show me that picture of this guy with his car. All right? Show me the -- there you go. This guy, got a mental illness? He`s just a lazy
daydreaming boy. Check it out. Give me a close-up of that Confederate States of America. And he goes into this church, this AME church, and guns
down multiple pastors.
Yes, but you know what, Carissa Kranz, that`s the only place he`s got to go is some type of a mental defect.
CARISSA KRANZ, FORMER PROSECUTOR: I agree with you, Nancy. There`s no way to look at this except for a hate crime based on the pictures and the
comments and the evidence that`s coming in. I mean the underlying element of a hate crime is a crime. It`s targeted against a specific group of
people. And the motivation is hate. You`re talking about a young man that went into a house of God and gunned down an entire segment of people.
GRACE: With me, Reverend John Paul Brown, friend of the pastor killed in the shooting, pastor at Mount Zion AME nearby right there in Charleston
joining us.
Reverend Brown, again, thank you for being with us. What can you tell me about the pastor that was gunned down? And what do you believe that they
were doing in that prayer meeting?
REV. JOHN PAUL BROWN, FRIEND OF PASTOR CLEMENT PINCKNEY: Pastor Clementa Pinckney, I was his pastor when he was a young boy. He helped us in aid in
teaching church school at an early age. He aspired to the ministry around age 16, pursued that. His goal was helping people and loving people. It
showed up not only in his ministry, it showed up when he became a state senator.
[20:45:01] The bills he introduced, he was one of the ones along with the other senators fighting for policemen to wear cameras on their vests, body
armor.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Straight out to Matthew Horace, former ATF executive, senior VP, FJC Security.
Matthew, tell me about the weapon used here.
MATTHEW HORACE, FORMER ATF EXECUTIVE: As I understand it, Nancy, the weapon is a .45 caliber firearm, a pistol. And as you know it has a very,
very strong impact. You know, it`s a weapon of choice for the military for some number of years and it`s meant for combat.
GRACE: Meant for combat.
To Dr. Michelle Dupre, forensic pathologist out of South Carolina.
Dr. Dupre, with a .45 caliber that Matthew Horace was just describing, did these victims, did they understand what was happening? Or did they just --
were they dead immediately? Or did they fall to the floor? Did they suffer pain? Did they look up and realize they`re lying in the church
floor dying?
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER AND FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Nancy, first of all, heartfelt sympathy to the families in this horrible,
horrible incident. To answer your question, it depends on where they were hit. The chances are they did not have a chance. They did not have a
chance.
GRACE: Dr. Charles Sophy, psychiatrist, author of "Side by Side."
Dr. Sophy, it`s going to be hard to convince me this guy had any type of a mental defect, all right? Did you see that picture of him lounging on his
new car? Did you see that? He is not -- does not have a mental defect. He is just pure-out evil but help me understand, Dr. Sophie.
DR. CHARLES SOPHY, PSYCHIATRIST, LA COUNTY: Well, you know, it doesn`t mean just because he doesn`t look like he is sick doesn`t mean he wasn`t on
drugs and he wasn`t hearing voices. Some of the things that`s he`s saying indicate that`s he`s responding to something inside his head.
You also said that he has that nasty look on his face. That means he has got nasty thoughts going on in his head, maybe for a long time, maybe from
drugs. But there`s something going on in his head that he`s responding to, to want to kill people who he thinks are raping and destroying our society.
GRACE: And then he guns down six of the nine were women.
Unleash the lawyers, Carissa Kranz, Robert Schalk, Jeff Gold. There you go, Jeff Gold. There`s your and Schalk`s defense. Sophy played right into
it. I`m shocked that he`s got a drug problem.
You know what, voluntary use of drugs, not a defense, Gold. That`s not a defense.
GOLD: Yes, look, Nancy, I got to agree. You know, I`ve been covering this James Holmes out in Colorado who shot up the movie theater. This is so
much worse because he didn`t just kill indiscriminately. He killed black people in a black church indiscriminately. So it is really hard to defend,
although mental illness is the only way to defend it probably.
GRACE: Carissa Kranz -- yes, drugs. That`s not going to help. That`s not a defense under our law.
KRANZ: I don`t think there is a defense. There is nothing that can excuse this or justify this behavior. If someone goes into a church and kills an
entire segment of people, I personally don`t see how this couldn`t be tried as an act of terrorism.
GRACE: To Robert Schalk, I was -- the point I`m making is use of drugs is not a defense in our jurisprudence system.
SCHALK: No.
GRACE: That`s not going to work.
SCHALK: No.
GRACE: Got to come up with something else.
SCHALK: No, but as the doctor said, I mean, this is less than 24 hours after the incident. We have no idea about this kid`s background,
physically, psychologically.
GRACE: OK.
SCHALK: His family growing up. We know absolutely nothing about it.
GRACE: Well, you know what, I know about the victims` background.
Right now, "CNN HEROES."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes our seniors are forgotten. To be completely alone and every single day, to not have anybody to talk to, it`s
hard for me to imagine how lonely that would be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I live alone. And I have ever since 1975. The only conversation I get to have is with my kitty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our society has become very mobile and families are now far away. And even though they care about them, they are not able to
do the things that these folks need.
Gladys?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
There are so many things that are easy for us and impossible for them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So are you ready to go get groceries?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are working to make sure that people have the help that they need. Whether that`s small.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This one right here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or something that`s huge like managing their money. And we serve as legal guardian for people who are not able to make
decisions for themselves.
But you still need some more work done.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I regard them as family. They are just there for me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We get to make a huge difference in people`s lives. You call us if you need us, OK? And we do it by being their friends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My pleasure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:54:57]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: To help the church, please go to EmanuelAMEchurch.org.
Let`s remember American Hero Army Sergeant Irving Hernandez Jr., just 28, New York. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, a devoted
family man, widow, Susan, son, Christian, daughter, Stacy.
Irving Hernandez, Jr., American hero.
I`m wearing purple tonight for those facing Alzheimer`s. It is the only top 10 cause of death that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed down.
Tonight, our prayers with the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night,
friend.
END
