Charleston shootings: Latest developments

Roof family staying mum while families still grieve

The family of suspected church gunman Dylann Roof has released a statement saying they know people are asking questions about Roof, but they do not want to say anything because victims’ families still are grieving.

The first funerals began Thursday for some of the nine people killed in what police say was a racially motivated attack at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston last week.

In a statement, the Roof family said it will do its best in the coming days to answer questions but thinks it would be inappropriate to say anything at this time.

Lawmakers set to return July 6 for vetoes, flag debate

The S.C. House is scheduled to return to Columbia on July 6 to handle budget vetoes and debate removing the Confederate battle flag from the State House grounds, according to an email sent to members.

However, S.C. House Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, could call the House earlier if he determines any of Gov. Nikki Haley’s vetoes require immediate action.

State senators also are set to return July 6. But they could be back in Columbia as early as Tuesday, if Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, determines the vetoed items must be addressed before the state’s new budget takes effect July 1.

When they return, senators will consider moving the flag from the State House grounds to the Confederate Relic Room at the State Museum.

Coastal Carolina creates scholarships to honor slain senator

Coastal Carolina University will offer two new scholarships in memory of the late state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, starting in the fall.

A $2,500 scholarship will be awarded annually to a man and a woman from District 45, which Pinckney represented in the state Senate. The district includes parts of Allendale, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties. About 340 current Coastal students are from the district.

Two banks contribute $100,000 each

South State Bank will donate $100,000 to support the Emanuel AME Church victims’ families and the Charleston community. The Columbia-based bank said $50,000 will go to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund and $50,000 to the newly created Lowcountry Unity Fund.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo bank said Thursday it will donate $100,000 to the late state Sen. Clementa Pinckney’s fund, the Palmetto Project, in support of the victims and families of the church shootings.

Davis monument vandalized in Virginia

A monument to former Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond has been vandalized.

A spray-painted message of “Black Lives Matter” was visible Thursday on the statue, one of several monuments across the country that have been vandalized since nine black church members were slain in Charleston.

Davis is buried in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery, which is home to 22 former Confederate generals and thousands of Confederate soldiers.

Church to replace Confederate flags on graves

The Parish Church of St. Helena will replace Confederate battle flags decorating soldiers’ graves with a different Confederate flag in response to last week’s massacre in Charleston, the church’s pastor said in a parish newsletter.

The Rev. Jeffrey Miller wrote in a newsletter Wednesday that the battle flags in the historic Beaufort church’s graveyard will be replaced by the first national Confederate flags. Battle flags have adorned the graves of Confederate soldiers buried in the churchyard to honor the Civil War veterans, but after the events in Charleston, that flag’s purpose could be misunderstood, Miller said.

Miller said Thursday about 70 battle flags were removed from graves in the historic churchyard. Replacement flags for the gravestones still need to be purchased, he said.

The Confederate flags were only in the churchyard to mark the Confederate graves, Miller said. The historic graveyard also has British flags to denote graves of soldiers who fought in the American Revolution and American flags for other war veterans.

Contributing: Staff reports, The Associated Press, The Island Packet

This story was originally published June 25, 2015 at 9:28 PM with the headline "Charleston shootings: Latest developments."