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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Claire Phipps, Matthew Weaver and Raya Jalabi

Charleston church shooting: police release image of suspect – as it happened

Charleston’s police chief, Gregory Mullen, and mayor, Joseph Riley, make statements to the press on Thursday after six women and three men were shot dead at at the Emanuel AME church in South Carolina. Police are hunting for a ‘highly dangerous’ white male, aged between 21 and 25. Three people survived the attack

This live blog is now closed. For latest updates, check out our new live blog here.

Summary

Here’s an updated summary of what we know so far:

  • Six women and three men were killed when a white suspect opened fired in the historic black church of Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.
  • Police are still hunting for a suspect, described as a “highly dangerous” white male, aged between 21 and 25. They have released CCTV images of the suspect and his car. The suspect was in the church for about hour before opening fire
  • The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it is hate crime,” Police Chief Greg Mullen told a news conference without elaborating.
  • The DoJ has launched a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting, according to media reports
  • One of those killed has been named as Clementa Pinckney, Emanuel church’s pastor and a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate. He had campaigned for police to wear body cameras. The police said they did not know if anyone was specifically targeted in the killing
  • Eight people were dead when police arrived on the scene, following an emergency call on Wednesday evening just after 9pm local time. A ninth person died later in hospital.
  • Three people survived the attack, police said. There are unconfirmed reports that the suspect allowed one of the survivors to leave the church so she could report what happened. The police are continuing to interview survivors.
  • Questions are being asked about racial tensions in the state, where Walter Scott, a black man, was shot dead by a police officer in April, and the confederate flag still flies in the grounds of the state building. The NAACP said it was outraged at what it described as a senseless and cowardly killing

The Department of Justice has launched an official hate crime investigation into the church killings in Charleston, according ABC News.

A black cloth has been draped over the state senate seat and desk of Clementa Pinckney. The 41-year-old state senator, who was also a pastor at the church, was among the nine victims of the gunman.

State governor Nikki Haley has ordered flags to be flown at half mast, according to WBTV.

That’s it from me, Raya Jalabi will be taking over the blog now from New York.

Updated

“America does not have a monopoly on racism. But what makes its racism so lethal is the ease with which people can acquire guns,” writes Guardian columnist Gary Younge on Comment is free.

While the new conversation around race will mean the political response to the fact of this attack will be different, the stale conversation around gun control means the legislative response to the nature of this attack will remain the same. Nothing will happen.

After Adam Lanza shot 20 primary school children and six adults in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in 2012 before turning his gun on himself, nothing happened. Seven children and teens are shot dead every day in America and nothing happens.

So these nine victims will join those who perished before them – a sacrifice to the blood-soaked pedestal erected around the constitution’s second amendment that gun lobbyists say guarantees the right of individuals to bear arms. Where guns are concerned this is what passes for American exceptionalism – an 18th century compromise with fatal 21st century ramifications. For the parishioners of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston nothing will ever be the same again. And for those who have the power to prevent it happening again, nothing will change.

Rev John Paul Brown, who will be leading prayers for the victims in Charleston, has urged the community against any retaliation for the attack. Speaking to WBTV he said: “At this point there is so much healing that is needed.” He said if the community chose to fight violence with violence it would lose. “As a faith community we would kill everything that we stand for [if we resorted to violence].”

He then added this cryptic appeal” “Somebody knows something and we are depending that those people who know something think about the humanity about what should be done. And I believe it’s going to be a quick resolve.”

Timestamps on the new images show the suspect entering the church at 8.17pm. Police chief Mullen said the alarm was raised about a shooting at the church at 9.05pm. According to these timings the suspect spent about 50 minutes at the church before opening fire.

Updated

Charleston Emergency Management Director Mark Wilbert holds a flier, Thursday, June 18, 2015, distributed to media with surveillance footage of a suspect wanted in connection with a shooting Wednesday at Emanuel AME Church, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A flier distributed to media with surveillance footage of a suspect wanted in connection with the shooting. Photograph: David Goldman/AP

Updated

Here are the images of the suspect. They show him entering the church.

Updated

Summary

Here’s an updated summary of what we know so far:

  • Six women and three men were killed when a white suspect opened fired in the historic black church of Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.
  • Police are still hunting for a suspect, described as a “highly dangerous” white male, aged between 21 and 25. They have released CCTV images of the suspect and his car.
  • The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it is hate crime,” Police Chief Greg Mullen told a news conference without elaborating.
  • The suspect was in the church for about hour before opening fire.
  • One of those killed has been named as Clementa Pinckney, Emanuel church’s pastor and a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate. He had campaigned for police to wear body cameras. The police said they did not know if anyone was targeted in the killing.
  • Eight people were dead when police arrived on the scene, following an emergency call on Wednesday evening just after 9pm local time. A ninth person died later in hospital.
  • Three people survived the attack, police said. There are unconfirmed reports that the suspect allowed one of the survivors to leave the church so she could report what happened. The police are continuing to interview survivors.
  • Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush has cancelled a planned campaign event in South Carolina on Thursday. Hillary Clinton, who campaigned in Charleston earlier on Wednesday and is believed to have met Pinckney, said the news was “heartbreaking”.
  • South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said: We’ll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another.
  • Questions are being asked about racial tensions in the state, where Walter Scott, a black man, was shot dead by a police officer in April, and the confederate flag still flies in the grounds of the state building. The NAACP said it was outraged at what it described as a senseless and cowardly killing.
  • The Emanuel AME church has a rich history, including a visit from Martin Luther King.

Updated

If you live in Charleston and the surrounding area, we would like to hear your first hand accounts and observations of the situation. You may also have information that you’d like to share with our journalists. You can share text, photos or videos with us by clicking on the blue ‘Contribute’ buttons on the top of this live blog, or go to GuardianWitness.

Updated

That’s it from the press conference. Here are the key new things we learned:

  • There were three survivors who continue to be interviewed by police.
  • The suspect spent about an hour at a Bible meeting in the church before opening fire.
  • More images of the suspect are to be released.
  • The identities of the victims have not been confirmed. Three men and six women were killed. The police said they did not know whether anyone was targeted in the attack.
  • Only one of those shot was taken to hospital. That victim died in hospital.

Updated

Mullen says officers involved in the hunt have “taken this personal”. He adds: “We are going to get through it.”

Police are continuing to talk to survivors, he says. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it is a hate crime,” Mullen adds.

Updated

Three survivors

Mullen says there were three survivors of the attack.

Updated

More images of the suspect will be released, Mullen says. He says the police do not know if anyone was targeted in the attack. He refuses to give details of the weapons used in the attack.

Updated

In response to questions Mullen says he cannot give the identities of the victims. That information will have to come from the local coroner, he says.

Mullen says the suspect spent an hour with the Bible group before opening fire.

Updated

“You will see an outpouring of love and kindness and help,” Riley says. He says he and his colleagues have hugged as many of members of the families of the victims as they could.

Riley vows that the authorities will “make sure [the suspect] pays the price” for this “horrible act”. He says the community will “put its arms around” the Emanuel AME church.

Updated

Mayor Riley begins by thanking the police. “This is an unspeakable act filled by someone with hate, and with a deranged mind,” he says.

Mullen confirms that a support centre has been set up for the families of the victims. He repeats a warning not to approach the suspect. “This tragedy is indescribable, no one in this community will forget this night,” he says. “We will catch this individual”.

Updated

FBI officials are being drafted from Washington to help in the manhunt, Mullen says.

Three men and six women killed

Police chief Mullen gets the press conference underway. He says there were three male victims and six females. Only one victim was taken to hospital. That victim died later.

Updated

Families of the victims are being offered support at a hotel in Charleston, the local Post and Courier reports. The centre will be staffed by local, state and federal victim services personnel and the Charleston Coastal Chaplaincy, it said.

Mayor Joseph Riley has arrived for the next press conference, due at 7am local time (12noon BST). The mayor is due to appear alongside police chief Greg Mullen.

Updated

Here is a closer view of the CCTV images released by the police of the suspect and his car.

CCTV still of shooting suspect Suspect sought in connection with the Charleston shooting.
CCTV still of suspect sought in connection with the Charleston shooting. Photograph: Charleston PD/REX Shutterstock/Charleston PD/REX Shutterstock
CCTV still of shooting suspect.
CCTV still of shooting suspect. Photograph: Charleston PD/REX Shutterstock/Charleston PD/REX Shutterstock
The suspect was seen leaving the church in the pictured black four door sedan.
The suspect was seen leaving the church in this black, four door sedan. Photograph: Charleston PD/REX Shutterstock/Charleston PD/REX Shutterstock

Updated

Former North Carolina state senator Malcolm Graham has told WBTV that his sister was inside the church during the shooting.

Updated

Mullen also urged members of the public not to approach the suspect. He repeated that the police are treating the mass shooting as a “hate crime”.

He confirmed that the FBI is involved in the search.

This is an all-hands-on-deck effort with the community as well as law enforcement. I think with that effort we will find this person quickly.”

Updated

The main new information at the press conference was the release of the image of the suspect and his car. Police chief Mullen said: “We just wanted to get this out as quickly as we could.” He appealed to the public to help with the arrest the suspect “before he hurts someone else, either in the city or in the general area”.

Mullen gave this description:

He is a younger white male, we are estimating between 21 and 25-years-old. He is approximately 5 ft 9 inches in height. He has on a very distinctive sweatshirt. The vehicle has a very distinctive front licence plate. Hopefully these things will help us to identify this individual.”

Mullen said another press conference will be held at 7am local time (12noon BST).

Updated

An image of the suspect’s car was also released.

Image of suspect released

The police have released this image of the suspect.

Updated

Mullen urges the community to be vigilant as he appeals for its help in trying to find the suspect and his car.

Updated

The police press conference is underway. Police chief Mullen says the suspect is still at large and “extremely dangerous”.

He is between 21 and 25-years-old, he says.

Mullen says the police have CCTV footage of the suspect and details of his vehicle.

Updated

There are unconfirmed reports that the suspect let one survivor go “so she could report what happened”, according to Post and Courier reporter Andrew Knapp, citing an NAACP official.

Updated

A police press conference is due to take place an hour earlier than planned.

It will now start at 6am (11am BST), according to the Charleston police department’s Twitter feed.

The briefing is expected to be led by Police Chief Gregory Mullen.

Updated

NAACP expresses outrage

The NAACP has expressed its outrage at what it says were senseless and cowardly killings.

Its president Cornell Brooks put out this statement:

The NAACP was founded to fight against racial hatred and we are outraged that 106 years later, we are faced today with another mass hate crime. Our heartfelt prayers and soul-deep condolences go out to the families and community of the victims at Charleston’s historic Emanuel AME Church. The senselessly slain parishioners were in a church for Wednesday night bible study. There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture. Today I mourn as an AME minister, as a student and teacher of scripture, as well as a member of the NAACP.

The NAACP South Carolina State Conference and Charleston Branch have been working on the ground—with police and the community to bring this case to a close. We remain vigilant while the local police and FBI investigate this hate crime and bring the shooter to justice.

Updated

This graphic shows the location of the shooting.

Location of the Charleston shooting
Location of the Charleston shooting

The suspect briefly observed a Bible group meeting before standing up and opening fire, according to Dr Norvel Goff, a senior pastor at the AME church in Columbia. He gave this statement after meeting families and the mayor, according to Robert Costa from the Washington Post.

Updated

In April, Rev Pinckney, the pastor who was killed in the shooting, led a “Requiem on Racism” in the church.

He said he hoped the service would help “root out any forms of violence and bigotry”.

A Requiem on Racism at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in April led by Pastor Clementa Pinckney. He was among nine people shot dead in the church.

Summary

Here is what we know so far, as police in South Carolina continue to hunt for a gunman who shot dead nine people in their church in Charleston:

  • Nine people have died after a gunman entered the Emanuel AME church in Charleston.
  • Police are still hunting a suspect, described as a white male, aged about 21.
  • The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.
  • One of those killed has been named as Clementa Pinckney, Emanuel church’s pastor and a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate.
  • Eight people were dead when police arrived on the scene, following an emergency call on Wednesday evening just after 9pm local time.
  • A ninth person died later in hospital.
  • At least one other person was taken to hospital. Police would not confirm the number of survivors or their condition.
  • Police and the mayor are due to hold a further press conference at 7am local time (noon BST/9pm AEST).
Lisa Doctor joins a prayer circle down the street from the Emanuel AME church following the shooting.
Lisa Doctor joins a prayer circle down the street from the Emanuel AME church following the shooting. Photograph: David Goldman/AP
  • Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush has cancelled a planned campaign event in South Carolina on Thursday. Hillary Clinton, who campaigned in Charleston earlier on Wednesday and is believed to have met Pinckney, said the news was “heartbreaking”.
  • South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said:

We’ll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another.

I’m handing over this blog to my colleague Matthew Weaver now. We will continue to bring you the latest updates as the story unfolds.

Updated

My colleague Matthew Weaver has put together this profile of Clementa Pinckney, the pastor shot dead in his church with eight others:

In April Pinckney helped lead a prayer vigil for Walter Scott, a black South Carolina man who was shot dead by a police officer as he tried to run away.

Pinckney campaigned for legislation to require police officers to wear body cameras while working. He said: “Body cameras help to record what happens. It may not be the golden ticket, the golden egg, the end-all-fix-all, but it helps to paint a picture of what happens during a police stop.”

The Rev Joseph Darby, the presiding elder at Beaufort AME Church, described Pinckney as “an advocate for the people”. He told MSNBC: “He was a very caring and competent pastor, and he was a very brave man. Brave men sometimes die difficult deaths.”

Pinckney leaves a wife, Jennifer, and two children, Eliana and Malana.

You can read the full profile via the link below:

Clementa Pinckney named among the dead

Multiple reports have said that Rev Clementa Pinckney, Emanuel church’s pastor and a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, was among the nine people killed.

This has yet to be officially confirmed by Charleston police or the coroner, but South Carolina state house minority leader Todd Rutherford has told the Associated Press that Pinckney was among those killed:

He never had anything bad to say about anybody, even when I thought he should.

He was always out doing work either for his parishioners or his constituents. He touched everybody.

Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two who was elected to the state house at age 23, making him the youngest member at the time. He was elected to the South Carolina Senate in 2000.

Updated

It’s worth repeating that a man handcuffed by police officers earlier on Wednesday evening, fitting the description of the suspect, has been released and is not considered a suspect.

He is photographer Austin Rich and he later posted this update to Facebook:

The latest from Charleston police department, which confirms the gunman remains at large:

More images are arriving of the scene in Charleston tonight, where police continue to hunt for the gunman who shot dead nine people:

Police investigators outside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church.
Police investigators outside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church. Photograph: Richard Ellis/Getty Images
A group of local clergy return from the church.
A group of local clergy return from the church. Photograph: Richard Ellis/Getty Images
A man reacts while talking to a police officer near the scene of the shooting.
A man reacts while talking to a police officer near the scene of the shooting. Photograph: Randall Hill/Reuters
Police talk to patrons in the bar district as they search for the gunman.
Police talk to patrons in the bar district as they search for the gunman. Photograph: Richard Ellis/Getty Images

Updated

Helicopters are still circling in the air above Charleston, as police continue their search for the man suspected of shooting dead nine people in their church.

It’s now 3am in Charleston.

Suspect description

A reminder of the description issued by Charleston police earlier tonight.

The suspect is still at large.

He is described as a white male, aged around 21, slender and clean-shaven.

He was said to be wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and Timberland boots.

I’m hearing that Charleston police chief Greg Mullen and mayor Joseph Riley will hold another press conference at 7am local time (noon BST/9pm AEST), in around four hours’ time.

It’s not yet clear whether we will hear at that point, or before, the identities of those killed. So far, despite many reports on social media, no names have been confirmed.

Authorities have also so far declined to say how many people survived – though we know at least one person is in hospital – and what is their condition.

Following the shooting, a group of pastors huddled together praying in a circle across the street.

Community organiser Christopher Cason told reporters he felt certain the shootings were racially motivated.

I am very tired of people telling me that I don’t have the right to be angry.

I am very angry right now.

Even before the killing of local black man Walter Scott by a white police officer in April, Cason said he had been part of a group meeting with police and local leaders to try to shore up better relationships.

A small prayer circle forms near the location of the shooting.
A small prayer circle forms near the location of the shooting. Photograph: Randall Hill/Reuters

Updated

The King Center, the memorial to Martin Luther King, has tweeted this image of King at the Emanuel AME church in 1962.

In a series of tweets, the center concluded:

Charleston’s police chief has said the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.

South Carolina has faced claims of systemic racism, reports my colleague Tom Dart:

A Confederate flag flies behind a Confederate soldiers monument on the South Carolina Statehouse lawn in July 2000, a day after the removal of the flag from the Statehouse dome in Columbia, S.C.
A Confederate flag flies behind a Confederate soldiers monument on the South Carolina Statehouse lawn in July 2000, a day after the removal of the flag from the Statehouse dome in Columbia, S.C. Photograph: Eric Draper/AP

The shooting happened in the heart of downtown Charleston, a wealthy area which is one of the most historic and popular tourist destinations in the US and only a couple of blocks from the College of Charleston, which has about 12,000 students.

Racial tensions were raised by the death of Walter Scott, a black man shot in the back by a white police officer in April in North Charleston, an adjacent city of about 100,000 people where nearly half the population is black. Protestors said the killing was evidence of systemic racism in the state.

The Confederate flag, which many African-Americans see as a symbol of racial hatred, flew on top of the state capitol building in Columbia until 2000 and is still on display in the grounds on a pole in front of the capitol.

The black population of central Charleston has sharply declined amid rising house prices and gentrification, reversing the “white flight” that happened after desegregation of schools in the 1960s, according to a Post and Courier article from last year.

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church has a rich history, Associated Press reports:

The Emmanuel AME church is a historic African-American church that traces its roots to 1816, when several churches split from Charleston’s Methodist Episcopal church.

One of its founders, Denmark Vesey, tried to organize a slave revolt in 1822. He was caught, and white landowners had his church burned in revenge. Parishioners worshipped underground until after the Civil War.

The church’s own website says it is the oldest AME church in the south, with “one of the largest and oldest black congregations south of Baltimore”:

The wooden two-story church that was built on the present site in 1872 was destroyed by the devastating earthquake of August 31, 1886.

The present edifice was completed in 1891.

The steeple of Emanuel AME Church is visible as police close off a section of Calhoun Street following the shooting.
The steeple of Emanuel AME Church is visible as police close off a section of Calhoun Street following the shooting. Photograph: David Goldman/AP

Charleston’s newspaper, the Post and Courier, has sent out its front page for Thursday’s edition:

Rev Clementa Pinckney – pastor of Emanuel AME church and a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, who was inside the church at the time of the shooting – helped lead a prayer vigil in April for Walter Scott, a black South Carolina man who was shot dead by a police officer.

Pinckney campaigned for legislation to require law enforcement officials to wear body cameras while working, saying:

Body cameras help to record what happens.

It may not be the golden ticket, the golden egg, the end-all-fix-all, but it helps to paint a picture of what happens during a police stop.

The body camera requirement became law one week ago.

It is not clear whether Pinckney survived the shooting.

Here are some more of the comments from the police press conference, at which it was confirmed that nine people were shot dead in the attack on the Emanuel AME church.

Police chief Greg Mullen said:

At 9.05 we received a call on a shooting that occurred here in Charleston. When officers arrived they found a number of victims inside and we had individuals transported to the trauma centre.

There were eight deceased inside the church.

Another person died later in hospital, Mullen said:

At this point we have nine victims in this heinous crime that has been committed.

I believe this was a hate crime. It will be investigated as a hate crime.

Mayor Joseph P Riley Jr called the shooting an “unspeakable tragedy”:

The most dastardly act that one can possibly imagine.

The message is this is one hateful person that did these dastardly deeds.

South Carolina senator Tim Scott has been tweeting about the news that nine people have been shot dead in their church:

My colleague Michael Safi files this report on the latest developments:

At least nine people have been killed after a gunman opened fire at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in what police have described as a hate crime.

A bomb threat was also briefly issued after security services swarmed the area around the Emanuel AME Church, whose pastor Clementa Pinckney, a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, was said to be present at the time of the shooting.

Police have not confirmed the identities of the victims, eight of whom were killed in the church, another dying later in hospital.

Charleston police chief Greg Mullen said there were survivors, but declined to give more details.

The suspect, who is still on the loose, has been described as a clean-shaved, white male aged approximately 21, with a small, slender build, wearing a grey sweatshirt with jeans and boots.

Mullen said he believed the shooting was “a hate crime”.

The city’s mayor, Joseph P Riley Jr, described the killing as an “unspeakable tragedy”, pledging to catch “this awful person and bring him to justice as soon as possible”.

He said he had met with relatives of the victims in a “heartbreaking scene”.

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said details of the shooting were still unclear, but “we do know that we’ll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another”.

“Please join us in lifting up the victims and their families with our love and prayers,” she said.

Presidential candidate Jeb Bush has cancelled a planned trip to the state, and the South Carolina legislature has suspended a sitting planned for Thursday.

Updated

What we now know

The press conference is over and here are the confirmed details:

  • Nine people have died after a gunman entered the Emanuel AME church in Charleston.
  • Eight people were dead when police arrived on the scene, following an emergency call just after 9pm local time.
  • A ninth person died later in hospital.
  • At least one other person was taken to hospital. Police would not confirm the number of survivors or their condition.
  • Police are still hunting a suspect, described as a white male, aged around 21.
  • The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.

The press conference is over.

Here are some of the comments from police chief Greg Mullen:

This is a tragedy that no community should have to experience … It is senseless, unfathomable …

We are going to do everything in our power to find this individual, to lock him up, to make sure he does not hurt anyone else …

The primary emphasis is going to be us catching this individual before he hurts anybody else.

Police chief Mullen says the earlier bomb threat has been rescinded.

Norvel Goff, presiding elder of the Church group which includes Emanuel, speaks now:

More than 50 AME preachers are here to support the community, he says.

There will be a prayer vigil at noon on Thursday, he says.

This is a hate crime … we stand in solidarity.

Updated

Mullen and Riley say they are looking for only one suspect.

Mullen says there are survivors but he declines to give numbers. He won’t give details of their medical condition.

To recap: nine people have died – eight on the scene, and one later in hospital. At least one person is injured and being treated in hospital.

Police chief: 'I do believe this is a hate crime'

Mullen says this is being investigated as a hate crime.

Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley, right, stands next to Police Chief Gregory Mullen as he addresses the media.
Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley, right, stands next to Police Chief Gregory Mullen as he addresses the media. Photograph: David Goldman/AP

Updated

Mayor Joe Riley speaks now. He says this is an “unspeakable tragedy”.

He says they will catch “this awful person and bring him to justice as soon as possible”.

He says his meeting with the relatives of the victims was a “heartbreaking scene”.

There will be a reward announced on Thursday for the suspect’s capture, Mullen adds.

Mullen says they cannot release the names of any victims at this point.

Charleston police: nine confirmed dead

Charleston police chief Greg Mullen and Mayor Joe Riley are with reporters.

Mullen says there were a number of victims. Some have been moved to hospital.

Eight people died in the church. One later died in hospital.

There are nine confirmed fatalities.

My colleague Tom Dart sends this background:

South Carolina is no stranger to mass shootings. Six people died in Greenwood, 180 miles from Charleston, in 2013 when Bryan Sweatt killed three adults, two children and himself using a handgun as the result of a domestic dispute.

In 2011, Susan Hendricks shot dead her two sons, her ex-husband and her stepmother in the small town of Liberty.

After being fired from his job at a lawnmower equipment factory in Aiken County in 1997, Hastings Wise returned weeks later and killed four employees with a semiautomatic gun, injuring three others. He was executed in 2005.

Hillary Clinton – who was in Charleston earlier on Wednesday as part of her presidential candidate campaign, and reportedly met the church pastor, Clementa Pinckney – has tweeted her condolences:

There is still no confirmation on the number of victims, or their condition, but Charleston police department has just issued this update:

A police officer closes-off Calhoun Street near the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
A police officer closes-off Calhoun Street near the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Photograph: Richard Ellis/EPA

Updated

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has issued a statement on the shooting:

Michael, Rena, Nalin and I are praying for the victims and families touched by tonight’s senseless tragedy at Emanuel AME Church.

While we do not yet know all of the details, we do know that we’ll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another.

Please join us in lifting up the victims and their families with our love and prayers.

It appears that Clementa Pinckney – the church pastor and a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, who was inside the church at the time of the shooting – was with Hillary Clinton earlier in the day as she campaigned in Charleston:

Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush was due to be campaigning in South Carolina on Thursday – this has now been called off:

Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton was in Charleston earlier on Wednesday, but is believed to have already left South Carolina before this evening’s attack.

South Carolina’s legislature will also not convene on Thursday:

Updated

Austin Rich, the local photographer who was handcuffed by officers earlier as he resembled the suspect’s description, has been released, in a case of mistaken identity.

He said the police were “just doing their job”.

Suspect description

A reminder of the description issued by Charleston police earlier tonight.

The suspect is still at large.

He is described as a white male, aged around 21, slender and clean-shaven.

He was said to be wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and Timberland boots.

As we await the press conference, local pastors have been praying close to the scene for those affected:

We are expecting the police press conference soon, close to the scene of the shooting:

ABC News – which has a livestream from Charleston here – has shown these images of the interior of the church, taken before today’s shooting.

It’s a historic church, and the current building dates to 1891.

Interior of the Emanuel AME Church, Charleston.
Interior of the Emanuel AME Church, Charleston. Photograph: ABC News/screengrab
Interior of the Emanuel AME Church, Charleston.
Interior of the Emanuel AME Church, Charleston. Photograph: ABC News/screengrab

Police in Charleston have confirmed there is a bomb threat but say they are not asking residents to leave their homes.

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.

The Emanuel church website says:

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.

Reporters on the scene say they are being asked to move away from Calhoun Street, the site of the shooting, with some suggestion of a possible bomb threat.

This, like so many details so far, has not been confirmed and it would not be unusual for police to clear the area after such an incident, and with a suspect on the loose.

Barriers have been erected now to keep people away from the scene of the shooting:

State senator Marlon Kimpson told the local newspaper, the Post and Courier, that he understood “that there are some very serious injuries and possibly deaths”.
“I ask the nation to keep Charleston in our prayers,” he said.

Police talk to a man outside the Emanuel AME Church.
Police talk to a man outside the Emanuel AME Church. Photograph: Wade Spees/AP

Updated

I understand there will be a police briefing fairly soon, at which we might expect to hear some details of any fatalities or injuries.

So far, despite media reports of multiple deaths inside the church, nothing has been confirmed by authorities.

Local reporters said the FBI and the county coroner were on the scene, along with Charleston police:

There were earlier reports that a man fitting the description of the suspect had been arrested – this turned out to be a false alarm, says my colleague Erin McCann:

Police briefly detained a man who appeared to match the description of the shooter, a slender white male with a gray sweatshirt, sparking rumours on social media that the manhunt was over.

He was tentatively identified as a local photographer, and the search continued.

Police detain a photographer after responding to the shooting.
Police detain a photographer after responding to the shooting. Photograph: Randall Hill/Reuters

Updated

The Charleston Post and Courier reports that several streets are closed as police officers conduct their search.

The church where the shooting took place is on Calhoun Street; this and neighbouring roads including Henrietta Street and Marion Square are the focus of the search. (See the map below.)

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was in Charleston earlier on Wednesday, and a number of political journalists following her campaign are now on the scene of the shooting and police search:

My colleague Erin McCann has some background on the church targeted in tonight’s attack:

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest such house of worship in the American south. It is one of the oldest and largest black congregations south of Baltimore, according to its website.

Its congregation is led by the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, a Democratic representative in the state senate.

The church was burned in the 1820s during an investigation into a slave rebellion, according to a church history.

Its worship services went underground from 1834, when black worship was outlawed, until 1865, when the American civil war ended. It has stood at its present site since 1872.

Updated

There is very little official information so far, as police concentrate their efforts on tracking down the suspect.

It has been reported that a bible study group was meeting in the church at the time of the shooting.

I should stress that at this point we cannot confirm media reports that a number of people have been killed.

A man kneels across the street from where police are gathered.
A man kneels across the street from where police are gathered. Photograph: Wade Spees/AP

Updated

This map shows the location of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston’s historic black church.

Location of church shooting in Charleston.
Location of church shooting in Charleston. Photograph: Google Maps

What we know so far

A gunman has opened fire at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and was still at large, a police official has said.

Charleston Police Department spokesman Charles Francis told Reuters the shooting occurred at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church around 9pm local time.

He said police were still searching for a suspect.

The suspect was described as a white male, slender, aged around 21, wearing a grey sweatshirt, jeans and boots. He was clean-shaven.

There have been media reports of possible fatalities in the attack, but this has not been confirmed.

The website for the church said it has one of the largest and oldest black congregations in the region.

We will have updates on this live blog as the situation unfolds.

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