Dylann Roof's Black Friend: He Wanted to Attack College

Instead, he went into Charleston church
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2015 10:36 AM CDT
Dylann Roof's Black Friend: He Wanted to Attack College
Mourners gather for a memorial service for the victims in Charleston Friday night.   (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)

A week before he allegedly killed nine African-Americans in a bid to start a race war, Dylann Roof sat in a bar with a man AP describes as a "black drinking buddy." That buddy, Christon Scriven says Roof got drunk that night and talked about shooting people at a local school, the College of Charleston. "He just said he was going to hurt a bunch of people," recalls Scriven. When an incredulous Scriven pressed him, "he just said, 'In seven days. ... I have seven days.'"

That same night, Scriven and another friend, worried that Roof might act on his drunken promise, took Roof's 45-caliber gun out of his truck and hid it before returning it the next day. Scriven says that despite all the reports of Roof's hatred of black people, Roof "never said anything racist, never treated me any different," reports the BBC. Another disturbing detail to emerge about the shooting: Authorities say that Roof stood over a surviving witness and "uttered a racially inflammatory statement" before leaving, reports Time. (More Dylann Roof stories.)

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