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Suspect Caught in Charleston Church Massacre; Obama Condemns Senseless Murders at the Church; Churches Hold Vigils for Lives Lost; Remembering Clementa Pinckney. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 18, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington. I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: We begin with breaking news. A suspect is now in custody after the massacre at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. The police chief says the quick arrest was the result of everyone working together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF GREGORY MULLEN, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA POLICE: This case could not have been cleared as quickly as it has been if it had not been for the cooperation -- the unparalleled cooperation of all the different agencies that were involved in this investigation. I cannot say how thankful I am and how appreciative I am of all of the people who came together during a very tragic situation, a horrific situation, and one that has touched the heart and soul of every person who lives in this community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Authorities say that 21-year-old Dylann Roof was arrested in Shelby, North Carolina during a traffic stop. Earlier, they released this picture of Roof from surveillance video. Police say Roof spent an hour at a prayer meeting at a church before opening fire on worshipers. The nine people killed in the shooting included three males, six females. Eight of the victims died at the scene. Three people survived the shooting. Among those killed, the church's pastor, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney. He was also a South Carolina state senator and a prominent civil rights activist. The shooting at the church is being investigated now as a hate crime. The South Carolina state senator and a friend of the pastor who was killed says it was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MACK III (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: Anyone that would go into a church, and, of course, race is a factor, and this is a young white male, this is a historically African-American church, and commits this type of -- this type of act, it is a hate crime. It is a hate. It is pure hate. And I think one of the things that we have to take this moment -- that we have to use this moment for is to heal as a country. It's not just the south. It's not just South Carolina. It's the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Just a short time ago, President Obama responded to what he called the senseless murder murders in Charleston. He said this incident is especially tough to the come to grips with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families and their community doesn't say enough to convey the heartache and the sadness and the anger that we feel. Any death of this sort is a tragedy. Any shooting involving multiple victims is a tragedy. There is something particularly heartbreaking about a death happening in a place in which we seek solace and we seek peace, in a place of worship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president also said that tragedy should revive efforts for stronger gun control in the United States. The shooting turned a place of sanctuary into a scene of terror.

Let's get some more now on the arrest of the suspect, the call for healing in the community. CNN's John Berman is standing by live in Charleston. So, first of all, John, tell us a little bit more about what we've learned about how the suspect was apprehended in North Carolina.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was apprehended about three hours and 45 minutes from where I'm standing right here in Shelby, North Carolina and nearly a four hour drive from this church behind me. That is mother Emanuel. The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopalian church. It has been a pillar in this community for well over 150 years. One of the oldest African-American churches in the south, period.

It all began about 17 hours ago when this suspect walked in and lingered at this prayer meeting inside this church, your average Wednesday night prayer meeting. He lingered for about an hour before he opened fire. And sources tell CNN that he did, at the time, that he wanted to kill black people. Nine people dead, six women, three men.

As you said, Wolf, one of the victims, the only victim whose identity we know, at this point, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney. Also a state senator. Also a man who has two young sons. So many people I've spoken with on the streets here know him well and miss him so badly, especially today when they need leaders to help heal this community.

[13:05:00] It set off a frenzied -- a frenzied manhunt all through the night. There were helicopters overhead here, streets were shut down until he apprehended about now. An hour and a half ago, there was a press conference here in Charleston. Martin Savidge, who is with me right now, was at the press conference. What have you learned?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I talked to Greg Mullen and that's the police chief of this particular town. He was extremely worried. And I asked him, I said, how does it feel now that you have the suspect under arrest? First, he said, happy. But then, you saw the real emotion. That was relief. They were very worried. As anyone knows now, a person who would go in and kill people in a house of worship clearly is a threat to anyone on the street. They were very concerned that as long as this manhunt went on, the likelihood of some kind of violent showdown would increase. Remarkably, we are told that the way this arrest came down was basically by one police officer in North Carolina and by a tip that came from a person who just called in and said, hey, there's a suspicious vehicle here. So, it really comes down to the basic community involvement, local law enforcement. It was a traffic stop. And, apparently, he was cooperative. Most thankful no further loss of life in all of this.

BERMAN: Was he armed at the time? Any incident during the arrest and any word of how he got from here, four hours away, to Shelby, North Carolina?

SAVIDGE: All three questions I put to the chief. He cooperated so it implies that this was a peaceful arrest. There wasn't any violence. It doesn't appear that there was any struggle. He was inside of the vehicle at the time and there was a weapon that was confiscated. That is all they will say about the weapon. They won't tell you what kind. They won't tell you if it was a rifle, a handgun. They won't tell you if they think it was the weapon that might have been used in the attack on the church. They stop short of giving any details of what now is the prosecutorial part.

BERMAN: What about him? What about this guy, this allegedly deranged man who walked into this church, 21 years old from Lexington, South Carolina which is two hours away from here. What else do we know about him?

SAVIDGE: We don't know a lot. And law enforcement knew very little about this person. It wasn't like he was on some sort of watch list. I checked with the FBI. They said, no, he wasn't wanted by us in any way. We hadn't been following him. Local law enforcement was unaware of him. He's had a couple of arrests but nothing really huge or significant, certainly nothing that would suggest what happened would happen.

So, I think, at this point, they're trying to figure out, who is this person? They definitely believe he acted alone. There's no one else they're looking for. They don't believe that this is some large conspiracy. I asked that. They said, no, they believe it was hl, am only him.

BERMAN: What a success for law enforcement to get the footage, to identify the man in the footage, to release that to the public and then get that tip. In fact, they were very clear. They think the media -- the police, the mayor, the governor thank the media for getting this image out and they thanked the public for everyone's assistance in the investigation.

SAVIDGE: They said that from the very beginning. They said, look, you know, we want to inform the public. We want the media to be informed. But most of all, we need your help to get the word out. And that's the way it went down. Clearly, somebody up there in North Carolina had heard about this incident, maybe knew about the identity of the vehicle, and that is what tipped them off. It was a suspicious vehicle that was reported. That's what brought police. That's how it all came to an end.

BERMAN: The next step is extradition back here to South Carolina to North Carolina. I don't imagine that will be overly complicated. Martin Savidge on the investigation, these new details coming in.

Wolf, let's go back to you.

BLITZER: All right, John, thank you. Martin Savidge, thanks to you as well. We'll get back to both of you.

Meanwhile, mourners and those who were shocked by last night's events, they gathered just a little while ago at churches around the state of South Carolina to unite in prayer. In Charleston, Morris Brown AME Church hosted the gathering for those who wanted to pray or just try to come to grips with the violence that rocked their city.

CNN's Alina Machado is on the scene for us. She's join us now -- joining us now with more. How's it going over there, Alina?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, things are starting to wrap up here. But I've got to tell you, there's been all this talk about the need for unity following this tragic event. And what we have seen here today has been unity in action. I'm going to get out of the way so you can get a sense of what is still going on here. Hundreds of people gathering inside the Morris Brown AME Church for this prayer vigil.

And when space ran out inside, people stuck around outside. What you are seeing here is the area of overflow. It is incredibly hot out here today, and they offered people a place to go that was just down the street that was cool, but everyone decided to stay here. They sang together. They are mourning together. They are praying together.

There are people here, as you can see from what's left of the crowd, people here from all walks of life, from all ages, from all races, from all backgrounds, and they're all saying the same thing. When I asked them about the reaction to the fact that Dylann Roof is in custody, they expressed relief of that. But they're also saying that the healing here is going to take a very long time.

[13:10:01] And I spoke to one woman, in particular, who said something very defining here of this moment. And she said that even though she hates what he is accused of doing, that she can't go on hating him as a person -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Aline, very, very sad time over there. Thank you.

The pastor of the Emanuel Methodist Episcopal Church was one of nine victims of this shooting and he is being remembered. Flowers rest on the desk of Clementa Pinckney in the South Carolina State Senate. He was the youngest black person ever elected to the legislature in South

Carolina. And the church Pinckney led was also steeped with historic significance as he explained back in 2013.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. CLEMENTA PINCKNEY: Where you are is a very special place in Charleston. And it's a very special place because this church, and this site, this area has been tied to the history and life of African- Americans since about the early 1800s. This church was built in 1891. The congregation was formed in 1818 by the Reverend Morris Brown who later became the second bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

And for those of you who may know a little something about our denomination, we started in 1787 through our founder, Richard Allen, who left then St. Georges Methodist Episcopal Church because they were telling him he needed to pray after the regular members prayed. And so, that's how the nomination began in a fit of civil disobedience and a little issue with the theological fairness, if you will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And we're just getting this into CNN. We have now learned the names of two more of the victims. We also have their pictures. Tywanza Sanders was the youngest victim. He was a 2014 graduate of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. The school issued a statement mourning the loss of Sanders and the Reverend Pinckney, the state senator. Pinckney, by the way, was also a graduate of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. And among the others who were killed, Sharonda Singleton. She was also a reverend at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a speech therapist, a track coach at Goose Creek High School. She's seen here with her son. Our deepest, deepest condolences.

We'll have much more on the breaking news coverage. The Reverend Bernice King, she's standing by. We'll get her thoughts when we come back.

[13:13:03]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:16:21] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. NIKKI HALEY, SOUTH CAROLINA: We woke up today and the heart and soul of South Carolina was broken.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, a very, very emotional moment for her, indeed for everyone watching, not only here in the United States, but indeed the around the world. The police in South Carolina say the attack was, in fact, a hate crime. The shooter saying he simply wanted to kill black people.

In response, Bernice King is speaking out. She's the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She posted this on Twitter. "We must interrupt business as usual and change the trajectory of our nation. The soul of our nation must be saved #charlestonshooting. And the best path to save the soul of American and transform our culture is through #nonviolence365. It's more than a tactic, it's a lifestyle." That's what she tweeted, Bernie King.

The CEO of the King Center is joining us on the phone right now.

Bernice, I know this is a very sad moment. Your father, Dr. Martin Luther King, was very familiar with this church in South Carolina. Tell us about that.

BERNICE KING, DAUGHTER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. (via telephone): Yes. I mean, during the whole quest for voting rights, he had an opportunity to the visit Emanuel AME church to, you know, essentially raise awareness about the importance of voting and getting people involved in all of the mass demonstrations of the voting rights. And so that church was one of his stops as a part of that.

BLITZER: It's the oldest black church in the southern part of the United States. A lot of history there. When you heard about this hate crime today, Bernice, what went through your mind?

KING: Well - well, let me just say this, Wolf, the first thing that really ran through my mind is, you know, we've got to find a way in America to change the culture of violence that all of us, I think, have a responsibility to look at what we are doing to perpetuate it and how we can change it. But as I was thinking and it, I reflected back 41 years ago this month on June 30th, when my grandmother, my father's mother, was killed by a gunman who said essentially that God sent him and he was on an assignment to kill Christians. And my grandfather was on the list, but he just happened to kill my grandmother on that day as she was saying the Lord's Prayer.

And so my - my mind just kind of went back to that time period, and I'm fast forwarding 41 years later, and looking at the fact that we are at a very serious crossroad in this nation. And we must begin to do something to change the value system in our culture and begin to really highlight the importance of life, all life, and especially right now with a lot of the black lives where it seems as if there's no sacred place, there's no safe place for black life, even in the context of a church.

And so I continue to push, as my father did, his philosophy of nonviolence. We call it Nonviolence365 because it's not just a social justice tool or tactic, it really is a way of life. And if more of us embrace it as a way of life, we can relieve - and some of the violence that we are seeing in our nation and world ultimately.

[13:20:03] BLITZER: You heard President Obama, Bernice, speak out emotionally from the White House, but he also used this as a moment, once again, to speak out in favor of more gun control in the United States, saying in rather blunt terms that what happened here doesn't happen in other industrialized countries because of the availability, I assume he meant, of guns. Are you with the president on this?

KING: I agree on it wholeheartedly, but I also say that while we work on gun control, we also have to work on changing our lifestyles, because at the end of the day, even when guns go away, if they ever go away, there are other methods that people can utilize to exercise physical acts of violence. And so it really is about Nonviolence365 being permeated throughout our culture, and we are involved constantly at the King Center in educating and training all individuals in my father's philosophy and methodology as the way in which we engage ourselves in lives on a daily basis, including social justice (ph) movements (ph).

BLITZER: Bernice, is this going to result in security, greater security, armed guards at historically black churches around the country?

KING: I really can't speak to that. I mean, it may. At least for a temporary period of time. I remember when my grandmother was shot, and this was unheard of in 1974 when she was killed at our church, we had to bring in metal detectors for a period of time. And, obviously, during that time period, there was not a lot of killings of - in our - in our - in our communities, period. But people were so traumatized that even if they heard some kind of pop in the church, you know, people would jump. And so I think for a temporary period of time, it is probably something that many people will look at doing, not just in African-American churches. They may perhaps consider that in all churches because it just seems like we have - we are - we are violating and the lines and blurring the lines, excuse me, between what is sacred and what is not.

BLITZER: Bernice King is the chief executive officer of the King Center in Atlanta. She's the daughter of the late Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Bernice, thanks so much for sharing some thoughts. I wish we were speaking under different circumstances, obviously. Thanks so much.

KING: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We're going to have much more on the breaking news coming up, among other things. I'll also speak with a friend of the pastor at this church, the pastor, Clementa Pinckney, one of the victims of this heinous, heinous crime.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:16] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things that I have seen so far here tonight was everybody praying together. It didn't matter what color you are, everybody praying together, joining hands. And we're going to continue to do that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Pastor Clementa Pinckney has been identified as one of the nine victims of the church shooting massacre in Charleston, South Carolina. Pastor Pinckney was also a state senator who championed change after the killing of Walter Scott in North Charleston earlier this year. Scott, an unarmed black man, was shot in the back and killed by a white police officer in North Charleston. As a community leader, Pastor Pinckney stepped up with a call to end police corruption.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PASTOR CLEMENTA PINCKNEY: We need a better, more comprehensive and fairer tax system. But most importantly, every person in South Carolina needs to know that they will have equal protection under the law, and that a badge and a gun does not give someone superiority or will trump their constitutionally protected privileges and rights in South Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now from Charleston is the Reverend John Paul Brown. He's pastor of the Mount Zion AME Church, a friend of Pastor Clementa Pinckney. His church is only four blocks from the church where this massacre occurred.

Reverend Paul, thanks very much for joining us. Once again, I wish we were meeting under different circumstances. Tell us a little bit, first of all, about your friend.

REV. JOHN PAUL BROWN, PASTOR, MOUNT ZION AME CHURCH: First, let me give thanks to the leadership of our bishop, Bishop Richard Franklin Norris (ph), and to the community and to Chief Mullen and to also Mayor Riley and Governor Haley for what they've done.

Senator-Reverend Clementa Pinckney, my deepest heartfelt prayer. I'm devastated. I became his pastor when he was a little boy. A pastor at St. John AME Church in Richland (ph), where he grew up. He was very studious. He just wanted to help people. At the age of 10, he was helping us to teach the young kids in church school. At 16, he aspired to the ministry, came forth, presented himself and went off to college for training.

But his whole life had been given to the ministry and service, and his legislation, which you'll look at in the South Carolina senate, was all geared at helping people. And it's not a day that he took off to make sure that other people was cared for.

My wife, who was one of the conference director YPD, young people leaders and director in the state, groomed and nurtured Clementa, and - and we just - we just - we just loved him. He was special.

BLITZER: How is the community handling it? You were just at this vigil now, pastor. Give us a little sense of the feeling that's going on there. BROWN: The feeling right now is, you wouldn't believe the amount of

outpouring of love from across the nation, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, the bishops of the AME church, the ecumenical community. The church is packed. There's people out here. The vigil. we are rallying. The statement has been said that what happened was, whatever this fellow intended to do was intended to divide us as a people, as a nation, as a group, as a country.

[13:29:57] But lo and behold, he has no idea of what he did. He has unleashed outpouring throughout the nation that we're even - CNN and everybody else is here that have never been here, maybe, but the idea is that there is so much love that the hardship will come in the coming days when we're trying to put this thing together for the families that have to make funeral arrangements for those who have no closure, and for parents who will try to explain to their children, and children's children, what took place.