Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, believes the Charleston church shooting that left nine people dead was a hate crime. As a result, she also believes the shooter, 21-year-old Dylan Roof, deserves the death penalty.
“This is an absolute hate crime,” Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, said in an interview Friday with the Today show. “And when I’ve been talking with investigators as we’ve been going through the interviews, they said they looked pure evil in the eye yesterday. Without question this is hate.”
Dylan Roof was captured in Shelby, North Carolina on Thursday morning–just 14 hours after he gunned down nine people at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Roof waived extradition and was flown back to South Carolina where he faced a hearing on Friday.
“We absolutely will want him to have the death penalty,” Nikki Haley said on Friday. “This is the worst hate that I’ve seen and that the country has seen in a long time.”
"We will absolutely want him to have the death penalty." -South Carolina governor Nikki Haley tells @SavannahGuthrie #CharlestonShooting
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 19, 2015
South Carolina carries out the death penalty by lethal injection. The state has not put an inmate to death since 2011.
If the Charleston shooting is determined to be a hate crime, it will become a federal case.
What are your thoughts on South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s belief that Dylan Roof committed a hate crime and should be sentenced to die?
How do you think others–both those who lost loved ones in the Charleston church shooting, as well as those who live nearby–will react to her opinion?
Gov. @nikkihaley: “There’s a lot of prayer in this state… These 9 families need us, the Emanuel AME Church needs us.” pic.twitter.com/Zl8TpfvP0Y
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 18, 2015