By now, Dylann Roof, the suspect in the Charleston, South Carolina shooting deaths of nine churchgoers a week ago, is an infamous household name.
As such, you would think that the North Carolina police who arrested him 245 miles away from the shooting scene would have jailed him immediately after booking him on murder charges – but you would be wrong.
According to Shelby, North Carolina police chief Jeff Ledford, police took shooting suspect Dylann Roof to Burger King after arresting him on terrorist and murder charges – crimes meant to spark a “race war” according to the suspect – because he was hungry.
After all, Roof said that the only food he had that whole day after the shooting was water and a bag of Doritos and arresting officers, going out of their way to pamper the alleged killer, decided to stop at Burger King so Roof could get a Whopper with fries.
After all, he was only a suspect and “He was very quiet, very calm. He didn’t talk,” Ledford said. “He sat down here very quietly. He was not problematic,” Ledford said.
Apparently, Roof knew how to behave at Burger King but not how to behave at the historically-black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina – the oldest church of its kind in the United States.
After joining the congregants for prayer for nearly an hour, it is alleged that Roof calmly stood, produced a gun and began shooting attendees indiscriminately, saying, “I’ll give you something to pray about.” I was reported that Roof reloaded his gun five times during the incident.
A witness, who Roof spared during the shooting so she could tell people what he had done, said Roof left to begin his drive to North Carolina. To be fair, Roof told her he had planned to commit suicide until he realized he had no more bullets to get the job done.
The fast food run notwithstanding, the arrest of Roof was unremarkable.
A police said Roof had pulled off U.S. 74 Thursday morning and that five Shelby police officers drew their guns, surrounded the black Hyundai sedan identified in surveillance video as belonging to the alleged assailant and arrested Dylann Roof.
Roof, who had been on the run for about 16 hours, produced his driver’s license and confessed his identity to police. Police found a .45-caliber handgun in Roof’s car that authorities believe was used by Roof to commit his crimes.
Citing anonymous sources, the Washington Post said Roof showed no remorse and expressed racist views as he confessed to the crimes. Roof also said he was on his way to Nashville, Tennessee.
Police have not said why they took a detour to Burger King to get Roof something to eat but observers said it was outrageous considering police do not extend similar accommodations to drug dealers and drunk drivers following arrest for their crimes.
