Dylann Roof Was Planning Charleston Shooting 'For Six Months,' Roommate Says

The Huffington Post  |  By Andy Campbell Email Posted: 06/18/2015 6:41 pm EDT Updated: 06/18/2015 11:59 pm

Dylann Roof's roommate says the suspect was planning something big leading up to the alleged shooting at a South Carolina church Wednesday that left nine people dead.

Dalton Tyler told ABC News that he'd known Roof for at least seven months, and that the 21-year-old was "planning something like that for six months."

ABC reports: Many of Roof's family members have repeatedly declined to comment on the 21-year-old suspect, but his friends, previous police reports and his uncle have painted a picture of a shut-in with no job and plenty of anger.

His uncle, Carson Cowles, recalled telling his sister, the suspect's mother, several years ago that he thought Roof was too introverted, and described his nephew as "quiet, soft-spoken boy."

"I said he was like 19 years old, he still didn't have a job, a driver's license or anything like that and he just stayed in his room a lot of the time," Cowles said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

“He was big into segregation and other stuff,” Tyler said. “He said he wanted to start a civil war. He said he was going to do something like that and then kill himself.”

Tyler said he met Roof, a Lexington, South Carolina native, through a good friend. He also said Roof’s parents, with whom he said the suspect was “on and off,” had previously bought him a gun but never allowed him to take it with him until this past week. more