Charleston, United States--The "devastated" family of the 21-year-old white man suspecting of gunning down nine African Americans at a Charleston church spoke of their "shock, grief and disbelief" Friday.
In their first public reaction to Wednesday's killings in the South Carolina city, the family of Dylann Roof released a statement offering sympathy to the victims.
"We cannot express our shock, grief and disbelief as to what happened that night," the statement said. "We are devastated and saddened by what occurred."
The family added: "As you can imagine, words are hard to find and we would ask that the media respect our family's privacy at this time."
Roof, a suspected white supremacist, was ordered to remain in custody on murder charges and authorities are investigating the killings as a possible act of "domestic terrorism."
AFP
