Evidence paints Dylann Roof as racist, drifting loner
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Before Dylann Roof was arrested for killing nine black church members, he scribbled a note to his mother, apologizing for all the repercussions his actions would cause. Weeks later, in a jailhouse journal, he wrote that he had no regrets.
The evidence, along with his manifesto, hundreds of photos and a confession to the FBI, draw a portrait of a young white man consumed by racial hatred who carefully planned the killings, picking out meek, innocent black people who likely wouldn't fight back.
Jurors who convicted Roof of hate crimes and other charges will decide whether he should be executed or face life in prison.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ROOF AND RACISM
Roof has pointed out that there was no dramatic confrontation that led him to begin hating blacks. Instead, when the Trayvon Martin case made the news, Roof went to Wikipedia to read about the black teenager who was shot to death in 2012 by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was acquitted. That led Roof to research black on white crime and to websites that offer false statistics inflating how often those crimes happen.
Roof was careful in his writings to say his beliefs came just from himself, not his parents. But one of Roof's old friends suggested otherwise.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I don't think his parents liked his decisions, the choices that he made to have black friends," said Christon Scriven, who is black. Shortly after the shootings, Roof would go between partying with black friends and spewing racist diatribes to his white buddies, Scriven said.
Roof also believed the dubious claims that blacks were better off as slaves and are inferior at their cores to whites. He compared African-Americans to dogs, saying everyone feels bad when a man beats a dog, but no one is surprised when a dog bites a man.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}THE SON
When authorities searched Roof's car, they found birthday cards from his mom and dad, who were divorced, and what appeared to be suicide notes to each of his parents.
Roof's writings to his mom show a son worried about how she would feel.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"At this moment I miss you very much," he wrote. "And as childish as it sounds, I wish I was in your arms."
Roof's mom suffered a heart attack in court shortly after prosecutors called him a cold and calculated killer in their opening statement.
Roof worked for his contractor father for a time.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I love you and I'm sorry," Roof wrote. "You were a good dad."
In Roof's birthday card, his father promised to buy him a gun.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}THE FRIEND
Roof had a few friends he would hang out with when he got tired of his parents. One of them, Joey Meek, pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about what he knew about Roof's plans.
Meek is awaiting sentencing. His guilty plea included an offer to testify against his friend if asked, but he hasn't been called to the stand.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meek and Roof were good friends until Roof dropped out of high school. They reconnected in the months before the shooting, drinking and smoking marijuana. Scriven also would hang out with them at Meek's house.
Both friends said he talked about a mass shooting. Scriven said Roof wanted to target the College of Charleston. Meek said Roof talked about killing blacks.
Meek insisted to reporters he had no idea of Roof's exact plan and was stunned to see his friend in a surveillance photo on TV the morning after the shooting. "I didn't THINK it was him. I KNEW it was him," Meek said.
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THE LONER
In Roof's opening statement to jurors to start the penalty phase of his trial, he said there was nothing wrong with him psychologically except "I'm probably better at constantly embarrassing myself than anyone who's ever existed."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Agents recovered hundreds of photos from Roof's cameras. Some were of him posing with the Confederate flag, others were at historic sites across South Carolina. They appeared to be taken with a tripod and a timer, and he is the only person in almost all of them. There are even a few of Roof with a cat in his bedroom.
Roof told agents when he confessed he reached out to no other white supremacy groups and spoke to no one else about his plans.
His journal ends with another lament: "One of my only regrets is that I was never able to fall in love."
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Associated Press Meg Kinnard contributed to this report from Charleston.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jeffrey-collins
Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read more of her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/meg-kinnard/