‘I consider myself a white nationalist’ – and other confessions from Dylann Roof
From his chilling statements about quickly slaughtering African-Americans at a Charleston Bible Study to his calm admission that he had learned his race hatred from white nationalist Internet pages, Dylann Roof’s two-plus hour video’d confession to the FBI was a window into the darkest parts of the human soul.
Here are some excerpts of the tape, shown in court on Friday:
On why he targeted Emanuel AME: “I just knew it would be a place with a small amount of black people in one place.”
On what he would say to families of those he killed: “I couldn’t even look at them.”
On President Obama: “Yeah, no more black presidents, sure.”
On news media: “Everybody knows the news is biased toward black people. ... Once you really understand what is going on, you don’t need to watch the news.”
On race: “I consider myself a white nationalist. ... I’m sure white people are superior.”
On the difficulty of shooting victims who dove for the floor: “This was really complicated because they were already under the tables.”
On whether his mom was OK with him having a gun: “No. She didn’t really like it.”
His best friend? “I don’t have a best friend.”
Asked if he’d do it again: “I might walk out. I’m not going to lie.”
As the interrogation wrapped up, Roof was asked where he’d rather be. He thought about it for a few seconds before responding with a laugh.
“I know – home!”
This story was originally published December 9, 2016 at 7:33 PM with the headline "‘I consider myself a white nationalist’ – and other confessions from Dylann Roof."