Mass Shooting: Dylann Roof

0:06 Welcome to Unspeakable, a true crime podcast where I tell stories of real crimes with real victims, whose cases are so shocking that many are left wondering how is this even real? I use my experiences in law enforcement corrections, and combined with my years as a criminal justice educator, dig deep into complex cases of evil acts, some so evil many feel they are unspeakable.

0:50 Warning. Unspeakable as intended for mature audiences. If you are easily offended, then I'm not your girl. Listening discretion is advised. Hey, y'all, it's kJ You're back for another episode of Unspeakable. How's your week going. Mine's going fantastic. I'm having a great week. I'm off of work today, but I'm in here recording, so you know that I got a good one prepared for you. I've worked so hard on this one. I know I say that a lot, but I worked hours and hours on this one because there's so much to tell you that I don't think was covered in the media. But before I get into that, I want to start shouting all the way to Roswell, New Mexico. I have got this. Say hello to miss Hortensia Valezuela. How are you doing girl?

1:31 I know I've spoken to you a couple of times online, and I hope that you're doing well. And your support of me. I can just tell whenever we're I'm reading the things that you write that you're just I'm just I'm a fan of you and so I appreciate you. I've got miss Liz Shannon and we're going to go to Mount Sterling, Ohio. How are things over there in Ohio? I hope they're well. I was on the LSU track team years ago, and I'll never forget that one of my teammates, she was from Ohio and she was a big girl and she threw. She threw the ham and man, she was solid and I was always like, holy shit when I'd say how far she could throw that. I was actually on the track team with Lolo Jones too. I don't know if I've said that before or not, but I'm a big fan of hers and she's an Olympian. If you don't know, I ran into her the other day.

2:13 She's so sweet anyway. And then the last one, but certainly not least for today, is going to be right here in my backyard Walker Louisiana, Miss Valan Collins, Hey, girl, I hope I said that right, because that's a non traditional spelling, but I hope I nailed it. I hope you're doing well, and I hope to god they get that roundabout finished where you're living next to because that one right there on Florida boulevard's killing me. I don't know if it's killing you, all right, So let's let's get into this one. How did I come to today's episode? And I think it's kind of interesting, and I wanted to give you a little behind the scenes on this one because the episode that I'm doing today was not what I was originally researching when I started writing this one. But I realized through my research that two huge cases actually intertwined in a very convoluted way, which I'm going to get to that later on, but it really makes you just sit back in amazement at how greatly complete strangers halfway across the world basically can affect the trajectory of the lives of others. It just blew my mind. And you'll see what I'm saying as I get through this. But there are two horrific cases that are linked but are in no way related. If that makes sense, and it just got my wheels turning on this episode, and I was contemplating, you know, what role does media coverage of crime play in the spread

3:44 of hate? And how controlled is what they say when people listen and they don't critically, they don't critically analyze what's being said to them. How does that affect so many people? And in this case, it's going to actually on another case, So it's food for thought. And I just wanted to give you some of that back story there on how this episode came to be. And today I'm going to go to South Carolina, which is crazy because this will be now three weeks in a row that I will be talking about crimes in the same state. But here we go. This time we're going to be in Charleston, South Carolina. Now Charleston is a place that I've never been to, but I have every intention of going to. This is somewhere I want to travel and I want to go spend a lot of time and check it out. I always think of Darius Rutger from Hoody and the Blowfish when I think of South Carolina for some reason, but my true interest has always been about days gone by. Darius Rutger is from South Carolina, if I remember correctly. But back in the day, you know how people lived, and the massive social changes that have taken place throughout the years has always intrigued me.

4:57 I am a history When I say buff I don't. I mean, I know all all of our American history, but I like to read about it. I like to collect things from the Civil War. I like the old guns, the old weapons, the old money. I'm kind of a man in that respect, but I've just always been intrigued by that. And then when I think about it, Southern hospitality with charm is what I get the gist of South Carolina to be. Like. Much of the charm is found too in that well preserved historic district that they have, the cobblestone streets and the Antebellum mansions that are found there. I did a lot of research on it.

5:38 It's also a city that played a crucial role in American history from colonial times through the Civil War until today. And Charleston maintains that rich history, which just I love that about people that they think enough to maintain the past while we also move into the future. And included in that long standing history is the mother im manual church. Now, this is a historically black church with architecture of literal days gone by. It is an absolutely massive white church. It extends high into the sky. It is beautiful if you go and you look it up. Of course, I'm gonna put pictures on my Patreon. And it's got this large cross adorning the building front from the street side and through the vestibule when you go in. Is the sanctuary comprised of original eighteen ninety two wooden pews, the original altar, and the original floor. I looking through the photos, I mean I can literally hear the creaks of the pews as people settle in and they look up to have services, and they see the three original chandeliers that were put up in this church back whenever they first got electricity. It's the same chandeliers. And so stirring the souls of these parishioners comes the brilliant trumpeting music from the same pipe organ that's been played in this church since nineteen eight. I hope you're feeling and seeing what

7:09 this piece of history means to that area. And there was one gentleman who parishioners at this church looked at and they revered him as the backbone of the church. This was seventy four year old Reverend Daniel Simmons. And Reverend Simmons grew up in the public school system, graduating from palmetto high school. But this man believed in higher education. He held not one, but two master's degrees. He had one in social work and the other in divinity. And being the distinguished man that he was, it was no surprise to me that he surrounded himself by other successful men.

7:51 He had been a part of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, and he would go on to proudly serve in the United States Army before meeting and settling down and marrying the love of his life, Miss Annie Graham Simmons, and I think that is the most precious name I've ever heard. Together they had two children, their names were Daniel and Rose. And Reverend Simmons made his impact in the community, working not only as a counselor but also a teacher in the Department of Corrections, clearly hoping to make a difference in the lives of those that are on the wrong path. And then on top of that, he would also settle in as a fourth generation preacher. Before he retired in twenty thirteen. So now in the later years of his life, things obviously had slowed down and church was his happy place and he was a man of structure and schedule, so Reverend Simmons always attended Bible Study, usually held on Wednesdays.

8:49 So it was June seventeenth of twenty fifteen, a Wednesday, when Reverend Simmons arrived for Bible study, and he had invited a friend of his to join him, and that would be fifth nine year old Reverend Myra Thompson. This invitation, though, wasn't just because this invitation was with intention, because she had just received her preaching certificate earlier that day, along with another woman named Reverend de Payne, doctor. So Miss Myra was absolutely beside herself because she was going to be leading Bible study for the very first time ever and she just was stoked about it, and her excitement led her to bring her best friend with her, this was seventy two year old Miss Polly Shepherd, because she wanted her to experience this first amazing.

9:39 Experience with her. And I don't know about you, but just so far, you know, in thinking about these these little people that are getting together at the church, It just brings happiness in my heart to think that they're getting together and they're celebrating something so innocent and so beautiful, and they're proud of themselves. It doesn't matter how old you are, you're in your seventies, in your eighties, you're still proud of all of your accomplishments. So the lead pastor of the church was CLEMENTE. Pinckney, and he too was a very accomplished man. College educated. Amongst a million accolades that he had, he was magna cum laude. He was a graduate of Allen University. He had a degree in business administration.

10:23 But bound to lead, this man was bound to be a leader. He served not only as his freshman class president, he was student body president, senior class president, and he was even recognized at one point by Ebony magazine as the top college student in America. This will tell you how valuable and how important this man was even as a young man. So not only was he now leading his own church at forty one years old, but I also found out he served as a state senator at only twenty three. This man was on a mission. He was on a mission to be the change and to make an impact in his community. He was happily married to his wife Jennifer. Together they had two daughters. So he was there for the Bible study and a few other members were in attendants that night as well. So I am going to be introducing into the story a lot of people. But that's I have to It's part of the story. So hanging there as I give you these people's names and everything. But the other people that were in attendance that night, seventy year old Miss Ethel Lance now Miss Ethel served as the church sexton. Basically, her job was to keep the church clean and orderly, and even in her seventies, miss Ethel worked all day long to get it done, and she often would bring along with her adult but special need son while she was doing so. Miss Ethel was actually a mom of five, but she had had some hardships and known some tragedies

11:55 throughout the years. She had lost her beloved husband in nineteen ninety eight, and then after that, she lost her beloved daughter, Terry in twenty thirteen. But she was a tough old bird. That's what we said about my great grandmother. We'd always say she was a tough ole bird, and she powered through. She powered through with grace and now as a great grandmother, she firmly encouraged all of her grandkids to never give up and to succeed. And most notably, she understood the power of a good breakfast. She always served bacon and grits, and her grandkids knew it was going to be on point whenever Mama Ethel was cooking that breakfast. She lived for her church and she was so excited to be there on this Wednesday night. So as they all came in, they were welcoming one another.

12:47 They were giving hugs, how you're doing's, how's everybody been? And this is whys they're making their way from the parking lot into the church. It wasn't a lot of people in a full church service. There was only about fifteen or so people coming in and going, and there was Reverend Pickney, Clement to Pickney, dressed sharply in his suit, and he was greeting them as they came into the church, and he was even bragging. He stopped and he bragged on one parishoner. Cynthia heard because she was walking in with this poster and she opened it up and he was looking at it, and she had created a church recruitment poster and she'd been working really hard on this and he gave her a good pat on the back and was like, that's awesome. That looks really really good.

13:28 Miss Cynthia was a warm and hard working woman married to her husband Arthur, and they lived a quiet life, which I need to tell you is no pun intended, because she was a librarian, so very kind, very gentle, and literally lived a life. So after showing off her poster, she made her way into the sanctuary for class, and so they had a few more people that they expected, so they chatted and did some more small talk while others were arriving. Two more people that were arriving that day were Miss Felicia Sanders and her son, twenty six year old Taiwanza. They parked and they made their way into the church and they were well known, very happy to always be in each other's company. Mother and son, but they shared a very special bond, very close, very very close, and nothing should matter or get in the way of when it's time to go to Bible studies.

14:24 So she did have her eleven year old granddaughter, I'm just gonna call her Ka, that's not her name. I don't know what her name is. It's not necessary for the story. But she did have her eleven year old granddaughter, who I'm going to call Kay, with her, but that wasn't an issue. Kay lived with her grandmother off and on, and she knew how to behave She was old enough to sit and be quiet and listen. Tywansa, if you're curious, he was not Kay's father, but he definitely took on a father role in her life. And Tiwansa this guy. He had earned a degree in business administration and he was currently working on becoming a barber. His passions were writing poetry and he was known to go to the local Mike Knights and do his poetry live for people.

15:11 A very artistic, genuine, kind hearted, but most importantly I would say, ambitious guy who never met a stranger. He was an excellent role model for kids that were around him and young people, and he was especially a great role model for young k So everybody now is kind of mulling around. They've made it inside and they all took their seats, and they were in some pretty special company, including and this is a direct quote, the most sought after minister in Charleston. Her name was Reverend Shironda Singleton. Now Reverend Singleton has a face that has just a brightness about it.

15:53 She is pretty and you just you. Can see from a photo of her that she's got this energy that she exudes when she smiles. And this has got to be true about the energy because she was a track coach at the local Goose Creek High School as well as a speech coach. So her work with the local teens is something that I admire because I'm telling you, not everybody can do it, but she excelled at it because she, my friends, was a force. She met business, kind hearted, and meant business. So they're all seated by this point, and the parishioners are looking over their pamphlets with the guide for the lesson that they're going to be begin studying and discussing. Miss Myra confidently began leading her very first Bible study. But unknown to them, a new potential member of the church drove all the way from Columbia to their church. He had driven by in the past too. He even once stopped and spoke to one of the parishioners outside after the services trying to get the schedule. So he would know when people would be in attendance. This man pulled up about eight fifteen and parked his car. He walked up the steps to the historic building and opened the door, walking into what's called the fellowship Hall. And this caught the attention of the entire group because number one, he was late, but number two, they all weren't expecting him, and so they kind of all looked up somewhat surprised that he had walked in the door. But with southern grace and absolute charm, Reverend Singleton announced, Pastor, we have

17:28 a new visitor. So the group of twelve all smiled and nodded, and they welcomed him over to the table. Reverend Pickney never missed a beat, kind of opening up his hand and inviting the new member to sit in the empty seat that was next to him. And when the man sat down, Reverend Pickney handed him a study sheet as well as a Bible, and the man settled right in. Now I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't an obvious difference between the man and the group. And this is what I mean, being that this was a historically black church, it was obviously different that the man who walked in. Was white. His name was Dylan Rufe, and he was twenty one years old. He's a bit bug eyed, he's got a bowl cut, but he showed no hesitation in joining in the group or the mostly elderly folks sitting there speaking not everybody. Taiwansa was young as his Reverend Simmons, but he jumped right in. He followed along with the lesson quietly, and at one point Reverend Doctor told this amusing story about returning library books, and everybody kind of chuckled, and Dylan politely listened chuckled alongside everybody because it was funny. And the Bible lesson went on for about forty five minutes. After they had covered all of the lesson topics and they were ready to close out the study, everyone stood and bowed their heads and closed their eyes for the closing prayer.

18:54 What a beautiful world we. Live in that complete strangers can walk in to church and join in together, welcome one another, and pray in the safety of the walls of the church, or so you would think, because what the parishioners didn't know was that as they all stood and they closed their eyes to pray, the skinny stranger next to them was quietly opening a tactical pouch filled with items only someone with evil intentions would need inside of a church. A forty five caliber semi automatic handgun and eight magazines fully loaded with hollow point bullets. In total, Dylan had eighty eight bullets on him. So as everyone quietly prayed with their eyes closed, Dylan pulled the gun out and he pointed it at Reverend Pickney. He began unloading that weapon, shooting Reverend Pickney multiple times. With every pull of the te trigger.

20:00 Loud booms were echoing in the sanctuary, and the smell of burning gunpowder filled the immediate area. So, horrified and confused, everyone opened their eyes to see Reverend Pickney on the ground, bleeding to death, and considering their ages, many of them were unable to move swiftly, so they all ducked down and they did their best to get underneath the tables. It was a pitiful attempt to get away from the gunfire, but it was all that they could do, so as they crawled about trying to take cover, Dylan turned on them, and he continued firing, one after the other after the other at the remaining parishioners crawling for their lives to get away from this gunman. And then, bravely, with absolute desperation in her voice, Reverend Simmons stood up and she said, let me see my pastor. I need to check on my pastor. So Dylan turned his attention to her and without a word, raised his weapon and began shooting at her.

21:00 Six rounds slammed into the teacher and track coach's body, and she collapsed to the ground. Dylan then turned and he saw Reverend Simmons, and he opened fire, firing over and over and over again. As that old man was struck multiple times, he fell over, never moving again from the place that he had knelt down for cover. So at this point Dylan began pacing around the church and reloading his gun. And while he was reloading, Felicia Sanders grabbed her granddaughter Kay, and she whispered to her. Just be quiet, don't say a word. But little Kay was so traumatized she kept saying, Granny, I'm so scared. I'm so scared, Granny. So Miss Felicia whispered to her, just play dead, and then she grabbed Kay and she squeezed that child's face into her own body, pulling her into her chest as tightly as she possibly could to muzzle any sound that the child might make.

22:00 She squeezed her so tightly she in her mind thought, oh my God, I hope I don't suffocate her. But adrenaline was pumping and she was in straight survival mode trying to protect the child from certain death. She had to be quiet. Now, Dylan's pacing around, and he's wearing boots for this mission that he was on, and Miss Polly Shepherd could see them walking towards the table that she was hiding under, and as he got closer, she did the only thing that she could think to do, and she broke out in audible prayer, openly screaming, asking for God to help spare us, Please spare us, God, Help us God. And Dylan interrupted that outward prayer by telling her to shut up, and so he bent down and they made eye contact. They looked each other dead in each other's eyes, and Dylan asked her, did I shoot you yet, to which she never broke eye contact, but she shook her head no, and he said, good, I'm not going to because I want to leave you to tell this story. So while this was all happening.

23:06 Felicia and her son, Tiwanzah Sanders. They're whispering back and forth at each other from underneath other tables. So Dylan turns and he's looking in their direction and realizing Taiwan's are realizing that his mama and his niece were still alive, but now in grave danger. He stood up and he redirected Dylan's attention away from his mama and his niece, and he looked straight at this crazed gunman and said, why are you doing this? So Dylan raised the gun and he pointed it straight at Taiwan'sa, but he didn't shoot. Amazingly and tragically, Dylan answered him, but what he said was nothing less than pure misdirected hatred. He said, I have to I have to do this because you're raping our women and taking over the nation. And Tiwanza, stunned, was attempting to reason with him and said, you don't have to do this.

24:06 We mean you no harm, We mean you no harm. So Dylan stared at him for a moment as he said this, before pulling the trigger rapidly multiple times, striking Tywanza and Tiwansa dropped to the ground. Dylan then calmly walked the other direction into the office of the church to look for more people. And while he did so, Miss Polly Shepherd, who he didn't shoot, who he wanted to remain alive to tell the story. She was able to grab her cell. Phone and dial nine one one and she pled for help. She was pleading for help. And I'll warn you that when you listen to this, you will hear people moaning at one point in the background. Take a listen to that nine one one call.

24:54 He said, sw. One, what's the address of the emergency? Manuel Church is plenty people shut down here. Please send somebody right away. Emmanuel Church manu ten camels and there's people shot. Yeah, he shot the pass and he shot the man in the church. Please come right away. Okay, my partner's gonna be getting some help on the way. Will I get a little bit more information from you? Okay? Stay, I'm alige with me. Are you a neighbor. He's still in here. I'm afraid he's still in here. Where are you? I mean many church on one, yes, maam? But where are you inside the church? In the noise level?

25:35 You're in the lower level. Where is the shooter. He's in the in the office. Let me send somebody right with me. Yes, Sam, I've got officers and outs who you don't hang up with me. I want you to stand alone with me. You stay as quiet as possible. Do you hear me? What is what is your name? Ma'am? Shahoo? All right, miss Polly? Like I said, my partner's getting some help on the way while I get this information from you. Okay, you stay on the line with me, and then. Coming, he's coming, He's coming. Please, okay, ma'am, are. You able to if he's coming? I need you to be as quiet as possible. Is there something that you can hide under? Come under the table?

26:22 Did you see him at all? Yeah? He's a young twenty one of the old white dude. Okay. And we got some people very hurt. Please, yes, ma'am. And you said that, were you able to see the gun? You know what kind of gun it was? No? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know where anythinking about guns? Okay, that's okay. And where are the weapons now? He's got it in the sand. He's reloading, he's reloading. Okay. I need you to they're with me. Okay. How many shots as he fired? I don't know. There's so many, three different rounds, old time God, pleaser, a silver please us, a little pleacheees.

27:11 Except but do you know what his name is? No? No, he didn't. Okay? Do you know what color shirt he had on? Green? Do you know what color dans he had on? A boot? Genes? But do you don't know what his name? No? No? No, okay, please. That's another bag of token cubanize. But there's so many people dead. I think, oh my god, you. Said there's so many people dead. I think they're dead. Yeah, that last on the way, And.

28:00 I just want to make sure you're at the Emmanuel. Amy Church one ta. Okay, you're doing it great, John, Miss Pauline, I've got help coming to you. Okay. I just need you to stand the line with me. That there are vehicles that he might leave in. That you know. That what door did he come in? He came in the back door? That I don't have an adam, missus. But Jennifers, are you all in the same area? Are there people upstairs?

28:41 You're all downstairs? Okay? Is there? Yes, Miss Paulia, I've got help coming to you as fast as they can. Is there a door that leads downstairs? They're both open. Are you able? Are you able to shut and lock those doors safely? Here? Okay? If you don't feel like you can move that, I don't want you to move. Okay, Miss Polly, or you or anyone else in immediate danger?

29:21 The excuse still in here, man? Okay? Are you able to get yourself to safety? No, I'm still on the table. Can you talk to me freely? No? I can't come in. Okay. What's the best way to get to you, Miss Polly? What on camp? Come down cam? Yes, ma'am? But inside the building? What's the best way to get to you? Just coming to baby? Yet nobody comes? You can hear somebody coming? Yeah, okay.

30:02 I want you to be quietly read on that. I think what's going on? Can you just hear the terror? Can you hear the absolute terror. In her voice? The breathy just it's just just fear. In roughly five minutes, Dylan Ruth had fired seventy four bullets inside the church. The magazines that he carried held only eleven bullets each, meaning he reloaded the gun multiple times during the massacre.

30:51 Of those people inside. It wasn't over inside though, because everyone wasn't dead. Some were moaning in pain, some were calling out for the others who wouldn't respond. And what Dylan didn't know either, was there were two more people in that church the whole time, in another room. And those two people just so happened to be Reverend Clementa Pickney's wife and one of his six year old daughters. Because Bible study that night was for adults, so their sweet baby girl and his wife, Jennifer were hanging out in the pastor's study while Bible study was being held when they heard the gunfire, the barrage of gunfire. Jennifer snatched their daughter and ran into the closest closet to hide, and there too, she managed to dial nine one one as well. That entire call.

31:42 I listened to every minute of it. That entire call lasted nearly twenty five minutes, and the majority of the twenty five minutes it's dead silence. Only heavy breathing can be heard, and they're not speaking or doing anything. They're hiding, just as the instructor or the operator had instructed them to do. Periodically through the twenty five minutes. The operator did check in on them, but mainly just silence, be quiet, stay out of mind, don't speak, be quiet, And amazingly, their six year old daughter follows instructions to a tee. But there's one part of that audio that broke my heart.

32:23 It is hard to hear. So listen closely to this six year old voice. Go quiet, okay. If you couldn't make it out, because she's whispering, it's their six year old asking her mama. Daddy's dead. Daddy's dead, So one more time, because I know you probably didn't catch it the first time.

33:08 Take quiet, okay. She knew that her daddy was out there and that something terrible had happened, and was grasping for her mama to tell her that everything was going to be okay despite what she knew she had just heard. So as that call is taking place, it's now about nine oh six pm. Video surveillance from the church shows that it's now dark outside as that back door of the church opens and Dylan Rufe pokes his head out and he looks left and he looks right, but seeing that there was no one out there to confront him, he then casually walked out of the church. He got into his car, which was parked right there by the front door, but he didn't speed off. He wasn't in a rush. He got himself situated. He moved about in the cab a little bit before he started the car, and then he turned his headlights on, backed out, and drove away out of the driveway. Not knowing whether the gunman had left the church or not, Jennifer and their little daughter remained hidden in the closet. But back where the massacre had just taken place, Tiwansa began screaming out for his Aunt Susie.

34:20 Now is Aunt Susie. I haven't introduced you to her yet. Miss Susie Jackson was eighty seven years old and she spent a great deal of time at the church. Aunt Susie was known as the matriarch of her family, and she sang beautifully in the church services every week. And she too, had shown up for this Bible study class dressed in her white pants and her brightly colored jacket has green and blue flowers on it. When she arrived earlier, she was slow and steady getting. Up to the door. It took her a little while, but she was very focused when she got up to that front door, because there was a button that you had to press to ask for entry into the door, and she was very care, careful, very focused, putting that little finger up so she would press that button so that someone could come let her in, which they did. And now just forty five minutes later, she lay crumpled on the floor and bleeding to death, and although mortally wounded, Taiwanza mustered all of his strength to drag himself across the floor to check on the family matriarch in a heap on the ground. Reverend Simmons was also still alive, but suffering from several traumatic gunshot wounds.

35:33 He was unable to move or help himself in any way. Amazingly because of Taiwan's as heroic actions in my mind, his mother, Felicia, was unharmed, and she rushed over to her son and she was holding him saying, just lie still and wait for help. Just lay here and just wait for help. Listen to her recount it in her own words as she's talking to her son, riddled with bullet wounds. I remember my son saying, Mama, he shot me in the head. And I was telling my son I said, just just just lay here, just lay here. And my granddaughter was hollering, saying she was so afraid. It hurts me so bad that I love you to wardsa, he said, Mom.

36:29 Might love you. I love you, and they watched him to his last breath. Can you even imagine? I don't want to imagine, but can you even imagine? You can hear it in her voice, the level of just this is not right. No one should see this, No one should ever see this. This should never happen. But they could now hear sirens outside and they knew help was close. Taiwansa did just as his mama told him. He lay there, but he would die just before responders got to him. His mama holding his body as if he were still a young child and not a grown man. But a mama doesn't care. I was her little boy, no matter how old he is.

37:13 So police entered the building. They were having to clear the building, make sure there wasn't a shooter still in there, but simultaneously wanting to run and rush to the wounded to get them out. Reverend Simmons was still clinging to life, and they got him in an ambulance and they rushed him to the hospital, but he too would succumb to his wounds. His old body just couldn't hang on. Once all the wounded were out and the police had tended to what they could, they continued to search for survivors. When they found Jennifer and their young daughter still hiding in the closet, and tenderly, you could actually hear this in the audio because she was still in the phone with nine one one, they tenderly helped her to her feet. Come on, Mama, stand up, come on, I got you.

37:55 So the police are now in the church. They're trying to clear it. They're looking around to see our do we have any more survivors, And that's when they went in and found Jennifer and that youngest daughter hiding still in the closet. And I know this because I listened to the audio and you can hear when they actually find them to rescue them, and they tenderly they helped her to her feet. She was drained from the stress and the emotions of it all, and they had to physically help her walk out of the building because her legs were just so weak. And they made it outside and they're standing there looking around at all the responders and all the people, but they couldn't help but notice that they didn't see their dad and their husband outside the church looking to greet them. He was very clearly absent from all of the people that were out there.

38:41 So back in the church where the police are looking around, there was no one moaning, there was no one crying, there was no one making a sound. It was literally dead silent in the church. So where Bible study had just been held minutes before, now nine of the twelve members in attendants were dead, laying there, not moving. Their bodies were scattered about the room, and it just it doesn't make sense. This is not what happens in a church. It's like, how is this even the way that this is going. This shouldn't be seen here. This isn't the place for that. That's a war. Zone, that's, you know, on the battlefield, not in a church.

39:24 There's bullet casings all over the ground. There's pools of blood surrounding the bodies of all these murdered people. There's even drag marks from where Taiwanza took his last stand in an attempt to save his aunt Susie. Out of everyone that it showed up for that Bible class. Only three people survived, Polly Shepherd, Felicia Sanders, and their young her young granddaughter. Stunned and in absolute shock. The remaining survivors were pulled outside of the building and speaking to to responders, but they couldn't make it make sense. It happened in a flash, but it took a lifetime. So the bodies of those that were murdered eventually were removed from the building after the photos had been taken and the investigation on the scene was completed, And it took doctor Aaron Presnell four days to complete the autopsies of the nine people that were killed in the church, And during those autopsies listened to this.

40:20 She removed not one, not. Five, not ten, not twenty, not thirty, not forty, not fifty, but fifty four bullets from the bodies of the victims. Four came from Daniel Simmons, five from Shironda Singleton, three from Reverend Pickney, eight from Depayne Doctor, six from Cynthia Heard eleven from Susie Jackson, who by the way, was the oldest and most frail person in the sanctuary, four from Taiwansa Sanders, seven from ethel Lance and eight from Myra Thompson. That's an unbelievable amount of violence. So investigators at the scene had started their search for the murderer almost immediately after arriving. So the church surveillance videos would give the first glimpse of the killer and that would spark a massive media release with the shooter's image that everyone in the community would know who we are looking for.

41:24 They set up a phone bank immediately and people did start calling in and sure enough, they hit pay dirt very quickly, because the very next morning, calls started coming in from people all over the place, including Dylan Rufe's own family who positively identified him. That is Dylan, he is the shooter in this church. So now this massive manhunt is full blast. So it was around ten thirty am that following morning that acting on a tip, police were told Dylan should be in Shelby, North Carolina, and sure enough they saw the vehicle. They located it and it was Officer Daniel Burnett with the Shelby Police Department, as well as two others that pulled up that conducted the stop of Dylan's vehicle. Daniel Barnette knew about the shooting because he had heard about it on the news the night before, but he never thought it would be possible that he would be the one that would locate and pulled this vehicle over. His dispatchers had alerted them.

42:22 It was all over the radio to a possible sighting of Dylan's car. When he id'd it and he said, this is it. I've got it, and he pulled it, pulled him over. Dylan pulled over. They ordered him out of the car. He followed instructions and the officers noticed though as he got out of the car, let me see your hands, that he had a GPS in his lap before he exited the vehicle. Immediately when they started talking to him, he admitted, Yep, I'm the shooter. I shot up the church almost as if you know, it was like, oh who welded this pipe? Oh it was me? It just so so calm and just admitted, yep, it was me. So he was then arrested and taken back to the Shelby Police station for questioning. So at the police station, the FBI was waiting. It was agent Michael Stansbury that interviewed him for about two hours and starting with who Dylan is? I want to give you a little bit of background information on this At the time of the shooting, he was twenty one years old, born in nineteen ninety four, and he came from a respected family.

43:26 His grandfather was a well known local lawyer. He grew up in a middle class family. He had a good life. The only struggle this guy ever really knew was that he didn't like being at school and his parents got a divorce. So during his teenage years he dropped out of high school. He repeated the ninth grade twice, and then he dropped out to go do online schooling, which he eventually dropped out of that and just went and was able to pass the GED test. So we're now talking about a guy that's unemployed, no real employment. He had done a little bit of landscape in the past, but basically this is a guy who floated in and out of jobs. He dabbled in drugs, marijuana to be specific, and alcohol. He liked to drink, but he had had run ins with the police, and that all began around the same time that he had started reading white supremacist websites in the months before the massacre and had started spouting that he wanted.

44:21 To start a race war. This is weird. No one obviously should behave this way. But what was even stranger about it that I found is that his childhood best friend, Caleb Brown, was mixed. Caleb never knew Dylan to care about that. They hung out, they spent the night together, they played together. So to say that this is odd is just an understatement for Caleb, How was my friend or a racist like this? And I'm mixed? Dylan's parents divorced, you know, wow, so or half of America, but his dad had remarried. He married a woman named Paige Man and Page really kind of raised Dylan while his dad was traveling for work throughout the week, and she described Dylan as a loner and quiet but very smart.

45:16 He just liked to spend most of his time up in his bedroom and he was usually looking up negative things on the internet, is how she described him. Well, she ended up divorcing his father as well, and during those divorce filings, to tell you what kind of life. This guy led? Because we usually I don't know about you, but most people like me kind of go, where the hell did this guy come from? Who acts like who does this? Who thinks that this is acceptable? And so I'm looking and in the divorce filings he came from a fan. They had a three thousand square foot custom built home in Earlewood, and they owned four other properties and to including two homes in the Florida Keys. So if you were expecting this to be some dumbass inbread, you know, white trash, it really wasn't. And I know what you're thinking now, You're like, well, Kelly, he is a dumbass. Okay, well, touche.

46:04 But he may have been a dumbass, but he wasn't stupid either. Because Rufe's full scale IQ was one twenty five. His verbal IQ was one forty one, that placed him in the ninety ninth percentile in people his same age of intelligence. So he couldn't do well in school, but he's not done by any stretch of the imagination. He's actually brighter than most people his age. So what the hell would cause someone of a high IQ and a background of good upbringing to commit mass murder? Well, I'm glad you asked. Why don't I just let Dylan tell you himself. Take a listen to his explanation to the FBI in the recorded interrogation, whoa.

46:50 I had to do it because. Somebody had to do something because you know, black people are killing white people every day down the streets and they rap they raped white women a hundred white women a day. That's AMBI statistic from two thousand five. Ye know, that's ten years ago. It's money being more UPHO know, it's it sounds unrealistic, but you break you down, that's two estate. It's really not unrealistic at all. We could help you more. You know, the fact it matters. What I did is so minuscule to what they're doing to white people every day, right all the time. Yeah, it just because that doesn't get on the news doesn't mean it's not happening. M.

47:37 You know, everybody knows that the news is biased for black people, you know, and pretend it's not what you know it is. M telling it when. You said, yeah, ID to do this cause so basically you're. I don't never to do it cause nobody else is gonna do it. Nobody else is brave enough to do anything about it. You know, in fact New Way eighties, in the early nineties, you knew we had skin heads. And stuff like that. There's no skin ads left, there's no KKK KKK never did them anyway. Yeah, dude, you're right. Nobody's gonna go murder elderly people in a Bible study class.

48:17 You're right, Dylan, nobody else is gonna do that. And if you think that is some type of warfare, you're and rightly so, you're unhinged and you're delusional. And as far as bravery goes, what is possibly brave about shooting unarmed people in their seventies and their eighties with their eyes closed in prayer? And I'd also like to point out that the stats that he spewed from the FBI on rape aren't that specific. A little lesson here, and I want you to know this for real. Not all agencies throughout the United States report their crimes to be added into statistics. It depends on the policy and how they report crime. And while white people are more likely to be raped statistically, he's missing some key information like Number one, children are more likely to be raped by people in their own family, i e.

49:15 The same race. Black females are less likely to report rape in general. That tells you your stats are just numbers, they're suggestions, they're possibilities, and damn near a majority of stats I've reviewed show whites to be sex offenders at a higher percentage. Fifty seven percent of perpetrators are white in the recent stat His overall anger seems to be misguided at best, and even if his information was one hundred percent accurate, killing elderly black folks makes no logical sense whatsoever. His argument is moot, and racism was seemingly the only motivator, with murder his ultimate goal. But what had led him to be this way? He must have learned this at home, right, he had to have learned it at home?

50:09 Well, know. So a Columbia City councilwoman, her name was Tamika Devine is how I believe you would say it. She lived on Dylan's grandparents' street. Their names were Joe and Lucy, and they were very friendly with all of the neighbors. Tamika went up to their house and she rang their doorbell just three days after the massacre occurred, and she described Grandma Lucy as visibly horrified and upset. And she kept telling Tamika, we are so sorry, we are so sorry. And miss Devine, who is black, if you're curious, she is a black woman, said that grandmother Lucy told her, we are going to stay preyed up. We are going to ask the Lord to get us all through this.

50:56 And from what Tamika felt an experience, she said their grief was sincere. And she added that people tend to feel that children are taught in tolerance and discrimination, but she didn't feel that this was something Dylan's grandparents would have taught nor tolerated. And this was backed by a state legislator. His name's Todd Rutherford because where they all lived, they had a black mayor, Okay, and where integration began years back, a lot of whites had fled that area. But guess what family notably stayed Dylan Rufe's family. They stayed put. They didn't leave when all the whites were leaving.

51:37 They stayed. Both Dylan's dad and grandfather lived in neighborhoods surrounded by whites and blacks, and Dylan's dad was known to often throw parties where he invited all of his friends and his employees, which by the way, were mostly black and Hispanic. So this was not homegrown hatred. This was looking more like self indoctrination of hatred. So as the investigation continued, Dylan's passed in recent history. Really shed a lot of light on what seemed to be a downward spiral of this guy. He had at least three encounters with the police in the last year, and what they are or what they consist of, is creepy, knowing what we know now. In February, mall workers had called police.

52:25 They were freaked out. They said, we got this guy dressed in all black and he's asking all the store employees about how many people work at a time here and what time they would all be leaving. Why would someone need to know that? So an officer shows up and got involved. He ended up searching Dylan and on him, you know, he found suboxen, which, if you don't know, seboxen's a prescription drug that's used to treat opiate addiction. And so Dylan was charged with a misdemeanor, but he was also banned from that mall. Then just a few weeks later, he was stopped and questioned by police because he was seen loitering in a and they searched him and in their vehicle or in his vehicle, they found parts to rifles in his trunk. He wasn't charged, but it was noted because it was odd and then in April, just a few weeks later, he was arrested again at that original mall that he had just been convicted of trespassing.

53:20 So again these were all just misdemeanors, but in hindsight, it's showing some devious planning that were in the works. Idle hands are truly the devil's workshop here. So in April, Dylan's dad gave him some money for his birthday, and that money he used to go buy that forty five caliber that he used in the shooting. So this should have raised a red flag. And this is where when we have a breakdown in procedures that are in place, people should be held accountable for this. And let me explain. A red flag should have been raised when he went to go buy the gun. Why because he admitted when he was going to buy the gun that he possessed, used and was addicted to drugs. But the background process failed and he bought the very gun that he would use to go murder. All of these people will certain things in background checks disqualify you from buying a weapon, things like have enough felony conviction, or if you have some misdemeanors like if it's a domestic violence misdemeanor, if you're a fugitive from justice, if you have drug offenses, if you have illegal immigration status, if you've been dishonorably discharged from the military. We have these in place for this very reason. So why he was able to buy that gun should be looked at. That should have never happened.

54:38 And then Dylan's online presence would show the depths of his hatred, because he created his own website where he was spewing hate, including a twenty five hundred word essay where he bitterly complained about what he called black crime in America. And this info he got and the stats and things that he used he got from a white premiscist group called the Council of Conservative Citizens, So clearly you're gathering information from white supremacist ideology. And then he started posting all these pictures and I have tons of them. I'm gonna put them on Patreon for you. By the way, Patreon, there's a free version. Go go to it, go check it out. It's a free account you make and there's a free version. You can see a lot of the stuff on there. But Dylan's posting pictures of him wearing a rebel flag on his clothing or waving a rebel flag, obsessed with swastikas, and videos of him shooting in the backyard, and just real hateful minded stuff. Though, and he discussed the love of segregation, saying, and this is a direct quote of Hilm, not me, he said, integration has done nothing but bring whites down to the level of brute animals.

55:49 And that is so frickin' asinine, considering he acted like an absolute animal against extraordinarily good people. Dylan brought himself down. He's the cause of his animalistic behavior. This dude was over here in a world with his own beliefs, and they defy common sense and they defy reality. But the problem with people like Dylan ruth. The problem is that when people like him surround themselves with only like minded people, when people never challenge their own beliefs or their own ideas or get out of their comfort zone, that's a problem. This is what many extremists and mass shooters have done in history, if you look at it, they surround themselves in an echo chamber of people who validate their bad ideas, which only serves to reinforce the bad ideas. Back in February of twenty fifteen, Dylan's phone records show he even called the church, so I'm assuming that he was doing some scouting of what he planned to do, and the GPS that he had that data showed that he had traveled to and from the church six times in the prior months, and he took pictures during his trips that continued to show his white supremacy beliefs, not only in the clothing that he was wearing, but in the sights that he chose to visit, like old plantations and museums, making completely and utterly distasteful gestures towards the statues and the pictures that depict slaves and me personally.

57:24 And I'm a white person. I look at. Those types of photos and the locations of historical events those people, I look at them with reverence and with respect for everything that slaves endured. And to see someone of such low moral compass and lack of empathy for what people generations ago live through is unconscionable and it's disgusting. He, by the way, had originally planned to attack a what he called a black festival, some type of festival he was going to go shoot it up, but he think out that security would be too large, so that's whenever he changed direction on what he was going to do.

58:05 So on April sixteenth, he bought the gun and some extra magazines, and over the next two months he purchased more magazines, he got those hollow point bullets, and he got a laser sight. He took videos of himself firing the gun in target practice, prepping for what he was going to do. And this reminded me of Columbine when those assholes filmed themselves shooting and blowing things up and spewing all their hatred and their basement tapes. It was very similar. And by the way, the ideology is very similar because the Columbine shooters were obsessed with swastikas and white supremacy and Germans. It's common, it's a common flag. He wrote a list of black churches that was found in his car during the search after his arrest, and almost like a ritual, he loaded specifically eighty eight hollow point bullets for his attack.

58:57 Y eighty eight. Don't let that number get law on you. It was eighty eight because the eighth letter of the alphabet is H. White supremacists often support or sport or use the number eighty eight for HH, which stands for Kyle Hitler. That number was symbolic why he brought that mini. He showed up at the church on June seventeenth at six thirteen pm and he pulled his vehicle up when you watch the video, he pulled it up with purpose. He got out, he walked to the doors, at first trying to open the right but realizing on the only the left door was open. And then he walked inside and incredibly, these beyond kind people welcomed him with open arms into their Bible study class, completely unaware that he had been planning for months to murder black people, specifically in hopes of instigating a race war. He sat there forty five minutes listening to them pour out their hearts.

59:59 Tiwanse even sent a snapchat video of them in the church right before he was murdered, and you can see Dylan's for a second in the corner, sitting there when they all bowed their heads to prey and they closed their eyes, that's when Dylan took aim and massacred helpless, elderly, unarmed church folks. Police located his journals all full of this hatred and this online propaganda, some of it, by the way, he went and uploaded at his father's house right before he left out for the church. He went on to denounce American patriotism as that quote absolute joke, because Americans have nothing to be proud of while blacks murder whites in the streets every day.

1:00:41 This guy is unhinged. And when he was interrogated by the FBI, he told agents at one point he had to do it to obtain retribution for the wrongs he believed blacks inflicted on whites. His goal to agitate race relations and cause this race war. And most incredible, he wrote that since nobody was going to do anything about it, all they were gonna do is talk on the internet. That someone had to. Have the bravery to take it to the real world, and he guessed it had to be Heilm. This little bony, elbowed, bowl cut, bug eyed bastard would not know bravery if it hit him in the forehead.

1:01:23 Bravery will never. Include killing innocent people, Bravery will never include killing the elderly, and bravery will never include hate. Ever, all of those are the antithesis of brave Dylan Ruth ended the lives of twelve innocent and incredibly good people, and he thought by doing so that this would somehow elevate him into like savior status of the white race. Well, a few words for you, dude. You don't represent white people. You just happen to be white. And there is a difference. We don't claim you, We denounce you and all that you supposedly stood for. You are nothing more than a hateful piece of shit. And I don't relate to you, nor do I align with you in any way, shape or form. And I would be lying to you if I said that I didn't take this crime personal. And I hope for a second you can give me some grace here to give you a little insight as to why I've spoken about him before. But one of my very good friends, his name's Kevin, is a black man, and if he had been in that church that day, I cannot put into words the hurt that I would have felt if someone decided to kill him, take away his life, all in the name of hate. And I thought about him when learning about what Taiwansa went through.

1:02:52 And one of my favorite people in the world is a custodian that I have worked with for many years. We call him mister Fish, and that man has looked after me for many, many years. I've always held a soft spot in my heart for him. I've known him for seventeen years, and I'll always hold a soft spot in my heart for that man. We just we clipped and he's like a popa to me, always making me smile. And he is who crossed my mind when I was looking at these photos of mister Simmons as he walked into that church and my other very good friends. They adopted children, a son and a daughter, and their daughter happens to be black. It doesn't matter. That's their daughter, and we love her. I love her as if I gave birth to her myself. I love this baby girl, and I thought of her the whole time. I'm thinking of Miss Sanders's granddaughter, and what if it would have been her sweet little face underneath that table, having to be silenced as some evil asshole is shooting at her just because of the color of her skin. It instills a fear in me that I can't put words into it.

1:03:58 I have goosebumps right now. She's a child, She's a baby, and I won't keep going. I just one more. One of my favorite students this year, and he knows it. We jokingly call him my nephew. Okay, it's a little boy's name is Landon matter of fact, he was prom. King shout out. But he is so very special to me. We have bonded through this year and he is just so genuine and he's funny as hell. And I look forward I go to school and I look forward to seeing that boy's face. He's smart, and he's driven, and he's gonna be somebody someday. I know this for a fact. And if anyone were to try to touch a hair on that child's head, I would come on glued and the mama bearon me would go animalistic to defend that child.

1:04:48 He comes to mind when I think about these people. I could go on and on, but there is no room for hate in my world none, and so I take it personal. We all should. That does not represent who we are at all. Dylan Roof was charged with thirty three counts of hate crimes federal hate crimes, and his defense and y'all, it's the constitution. But his defense jumped out they claimed everything from autism to having a mental disorder. But the truth is that evil and hate or why he did what he did. And Dylan himself, he even threw a fit whenever he found out his defense was trying to claim that autism played a role in it, and he said, don't want I don't want that to happen because it would dilute my attack value. The fact that he was able to competent to stand trial proves this Dylan Ruth.

1:05:42 Is not crazy. There is no excuse. He is evil. I read two hundred and sixty four pages of defense objections and all of that two hundred and sixty four fucking pages written to defend this little asshole who killed in the name of hate and racism, and he meant to and he admitted to it. It's sick the resources that we spent on this depraved animal of a human being. But on December fifteenth of twenty sixteen, a jury convicted Dylan Roof on all thirty three counts. And I cannot help but laugh at the next part because Dylan, when he was convicted, he offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. The government was like, no, fam We're good.

1:06:31 No, we don't. We're good. We don't need you to plead guilty in exchange. Sorry, we got what we need. And then after the conviction, Dylan decided that he was going to represent himself in the penalty phase. And this is this is so ridiculous. This is where he brought up some problems that he needed the court to know about that he might face in prison. Are you ready? He might face danger of violence from other inmates. You think he would have to serve because of this, He was probably gonna have to serve his sentence in isolation. He didn't want to do that. And then he ended it with the fact that he feels like he's capable of redemption. Like, dude, listen and hear me.

1:07:20 Good. You may in the court of God be redeemed. But here on planet Earth where I sit right now, me in the human form, we don't like you. We don't agree. And the courts agreed with my sentiment when they promptly sentenced him to death. Dylan's goal was to start a race war, but unfortunately, all his actions did was draw a heartbroken community together. People of all races supported the church and showed their love and their concern for people that were so greatly affected by Dylan's actions that day. Hate is taught. I'm not going to stand here and say it's not hate is taught, but it's not always the case, as this episode has shown. I mentioned at the start of this episode that I'm amazed at how stranger's actions can have such a direct impact on the lives of other strangers. Well, incredibly, this episode is going to play a role in next week's episode, which is going to take place in Virginia, and no one in the two cases even knows each other, so I want you to stay tuned for that. And I went to Mother Emmanuel Church's website and they listed a few words that were this year's focus. They called them the four e's Empathy, Empowerment, encouragement, and equipping and I thought, man, these are great, and they're also inspiring.

1:08:51 They inspired me. Because you know, I always say that I love Jesus, but I'm from the South side of the Kingdom. And in that same spirit, I chose my letter, and that letter happens to be S and it's in regard to Dylan, who thought that he was a brave racist, but I found him to be more along the lines of a soulless, sniveling, sad excuse of a sadistic sack of shit so shameless and spectacularly stupid that only Satan would swipe right in satisfaction.