There are reports locally that Clementa Pinckney, the church pastor and Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, was at the church at the time of the shooting.
We have no further information on his condition, or that of any of the church members who were present when the gunman attacked.
I will bring you that information once it is confirmed.
Rev. Pinckney was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1996 at the age of twenty-three. In 2000, he was elected to the State Senate at the age of twenty-seven.
He is one of the youngest persons and the youngest African-American in South Carolina to be elected to the State Legislature. He represents Jasper, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, and Hampton Counties …
He and his wife Jennifer have two children – Eliana and Malana.