Dylann Roof (21), the gunman who is suspected of shooting dead nine people in an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, last month, has been indicted by a grand jury on hate crime charges for targeting victims based on their race.
“We think that this is exactly the type of case that the federal hate crimes statutes were, in fact, conceived of to cover,” U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Wednesday, adding that such racially motivated violence was “the original domestic terrorism.”
Yet the grand jury decision prompted criticism that Mr. Roof was not actually facing terrorism charges, and once again stirred up the debate on why the numerous attacks in the U.S. carried out by lone gunmen, usually of Caucasian ethnicity, were not linked to terror, whereas incidents involving Muslim attackers were immediately labelled as such.
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While South Carolina itself does not have a hate crime law, requiring the application of federal statute in this case, Ms. Lynch announced a federal grand jury in South Carolina had returned a 33-count indictment against Mr. Roof, charging him with federal hate crimes and firearms charges.
Nevertheless South Carolina is, in parallel to the federal government, also prosecuting Roof for the murders, attempted murders and firearms offenses he is alleged to have committed.
The killings last month provoked national outrage and a passionate speech by U.S. President Barack Obama who joined parishioners in singing “Amazing Grace” at the eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
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The incident also led to criticism of Indian-American Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley for not applauding a eulogy that argued for tighter gun control laws.
However she subsequently received positive reviews in the media for backing this month’s removal of the confederate flag from the Charleston State House, seen by some as a symbol of this country’s history of slavery.