Comey said. “We wish we could turn back time”. “What we can do is make sure we learn from it, get better”.
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“If she had seen that police report”, Mr Comey said, “that purchase would have been denied”. Comey revealed that 21-year-old Dylann Roof should not have been able to purchase the gun he allegedly used in the Charleston massacre on June 17. Under federal law, the FBI had three days to block the purchase. But now that Roof’s motivations are more clear, Comey said he’s still not sure.
The official reached out via fax to the West Columbia police and the county law-enforcement office. Comey called that assessment “a mistake in a matter of heartbreaking importance”.
The head of the government’s personnel office has resigned in the wake of a massive data breach on her watch. And that’s what the gun store did with Roof on April 16. Roof shot and killed nine people on June 17 at a Charleston church.
Those charges top his previous nine counts of murder, as well as a weapons charge.
Before his murderous rampage, Roof had posted photos of himself with a Confederate flag along with a rambling, vile manifesto in which he spewed racist venom.
The announcement contradicts earlier assertions from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the background check was done properly.
Had the right jurisdiction been contacted, examiners might have learned that Roof admitted to drug possession in a prior case and, thus, was ineligible to lawfully purchase a gun.
Comey said the drug charge itself would not have automatically blocked the sale.
“It rips all of our hearts out”, Mr. Comey said. “I want to know if there are ways to improve our process, our procedures and our training”. Chuck Grassley. “The facts undercut attempts to use the tragedy to enact unnecessary gun laws”.
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The initial story was that Roof received a. 45 caliber handgun from his father on his birthday, according to Roof’s uncle, which still would have constituted a felony for both parties.
