Charleston church to open for service

CHARLESTON, S.C. – A small group of parishioners was allowed inside the bullet-scarred Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church on Saturday, getting a firsthand glimpse of the room where nine people from their congregation were slain.

Meanwhile, the FBI said it was investigating a manifesto purportedly written by the suspected gunman, 21-year-old Dylann Roof.

The website linked to Roof contained photos of him holding a burning American flag and standing on one. In other images, he was holding a Confederate flag, considered a divisive symbol by civil rights leaders and others.

The hate-filled 2,500-word essay talks about white supremacy, and the author says “the event that truly awakened me was the Trayvon Martin case” – the unarmed black teenager fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman while walking home in Florida in 2012.

The manifesto said “it was obvious that Zimmerman was in the right” and that the case led him to search “black on White crime” on the Internet.

“I have never been the same since that day,” it said.

It’s unclear whether Roof wrote the rants, but they are in line with what he has told friends and what he said before allegedly opening fire inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church Wednesday night.

Cleaning crews worked at the church Saturday, and church members announced they will hold a service today.

Harold Washington, 75, was with the small group that saw the lower-level room where the victims were shot.

“They did a good job cleaning it up,” he said. “There were a few bullet holes around, but what they did, they cut them out so you don’t see the actual holes.”

He said he expected an emotional service with a large turnout today.

“We’re gonna have people come by that we’ve never seen before and will probably never see again, and that’s OK,” he said. “It’s a church of the Lord – you don’t turn nobody down.”

As for the possible manifesto, Internet registry records show that the website was created Feb. 9 via a Russian registry service with the owner’s personal details hidden. A man who answered the phone at the Moscow-based company would not say who the site’s owner is.

Roof is being held in jail, facing nine counts of murder and a weapons charge.

A police affidavit released Friday accused Roof of shooting all nine multiple times and making a “racially inflammatory statement” as he stood over an unidentified survivor.