TITUSVILLE, Fla. — Channel 9 spoke with a Titusville pastor on Thursday who knew South Carolina Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was one of nine people killed at a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston.
The Rev. Glenn Dames said if the gunman, identified as Dylann Roof, 21, hoped to divide, he failed.
He invited the community to St. James Ame Church to demonstrate that with a prayer vigil Thursday night.
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Dames told Channel 9 he didn't sleep much Wednesday night, as his thoughts and prayers were with those affected in the Charleston shooting.
Dames was connected to the victims through their affiliation with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He also called Pinckney, the pastor of the church, a friend.
"State senator, a husband, a father and advocate for the people," said Dames. "Social justice was close to his heart. Great man and a good friend. He loved people as a whole. There was no one that he did not care about, which is how the gunman probably got in the sanctuary."
It came as no surprise to Dames that Roof had sat an hour inside the church before opening fire.
"Being the pastor that Dr. Pinckney was, he was inviting, as was the church," said Dames. "So they probably tried to treat that young man as family. They wanted him to know he's family. They wanted him to know he was welcome. They wouldn't turn anyone away."
The shooting has been called a hate crime, but Dames said he still has faith that love conquers all.
Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two who was elected to the state House at 23, making him the youngest member of the House at the time.
A childhood friend, Joey Meek, alerted the FBI after recognizing him in a surveillance camera image that was widely circulated, said Meek's mother, Kimberly Kozny.
WFTV
