(AP Photo/Chuck Burton). People walk past photos of some of the victims of last year’s shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church before a memorial service honoring those killed in Charleston, S.C., Friday, June 17, 2016.
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The kids visited the Mother Emanuel AME church yesterday and saw the memorial out front on the eve of the 1-year anniversary of when 9 people were gunned down inside during a bible study.
I think one of the most powerful images was Governor Nikki Haley taking the time to make a personal statement about each of the nine victims.
Haley, who attended the funerals of all the victims, said she got to know the families of both those who were killed and the three survivors in the days and weeks following the shootings.
A mourner wears a picture of Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, one of nine black churchgoers shot dead at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015, at her funeral service at Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in North Charleston, South Carolina, on June 25, 2015.
The one-year anniversary of this Charleston Church shooting comes shortly after another mass shooting occurred this time in Orlando, Florida.
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Roof, 22, is awaiting his federal trial which is slated for November and faces a possible death penalty sentence.
The College of Charleston’s TD Arena, where the service was held, sits about 5,000 people and was about half full. The Rev. Dr. Juenarrl Keith of St. James AME Church in McClellanville, S.C., led the invocation and asked God to have mercy on the soul of accused shooter Dylann Roof. Over the next week, lectures and Bible studies will be held to commemorate the shooting, and a community supper will be held at a downtown square. Tim Scott were scheduled to speak at the service, along with other local politicians and leaders, ABC News reported.
Melissa Rogers, special assistant to President Barack Obama, delivered a message from the White House on Friday at the memorial.
In addition to the service, a community dinner and unity event are set to take place in Charleston, with numerous events open to the public, according to CNN.
The service marked the one-year anniversary of the shootings that claimed the lives of nine parishioners during a Bible study at the historic black church.
Pinckney Scholarships have also been established to help students in need.
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In the wake of the shooting SC lawmakers ended a 15-year battle by removing the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol grounds, a symbol of oppression and hatred shooter Dylann Roof embraced. Above each were the words “Still Speaking from Eternity”.
