Meet the florist who helped police nab Dylann Roof, the suspected Charleston shooter


Her name is Debbie Dills, an employee at Frady Florist in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, and her eagle eye helped authorities capture Dylann Roof, who is suspected of being the shooter who killed nine people Wednesday night at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Dills reportedly caught sight of Roof on the highway, as he was making his getaway in a black Hyundai. Here's what she told the Shelby Star:
"I saw the news coverage last night and the picture of the car. I knew it was a black car, and it had a tag on the front. I saw the pictures of him with the bowl cut," Dills said through tears. "Since it happened I was praying for them and the church. I was in the right place at the right time that the Lord puts you." [Shelby Star]
Dills then called her boss, who then called the police, relaying the information of Roof's whereabouts. Dills stuck with Roof's car until he was apprehended.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.
-
August 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Tuesday's political cartoons include an unflattering jobs report, Democrat weakness, and the minimum wage
-
Why is the world so divided over plastics?
Today's Big Question UN negotiations on first global plastic treaty are at stake, as fossil fuel companies, petrostates and plastic industry work to resist a legal cap on production
-
Temple Mount: the politics of Judaism's holiest site
The Explainer Latest provocation at religious site with a history of 'perpetual friction' risks violence erupting again
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murders
speed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bail
Speed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambush
Speed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrial
Speed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside home
speed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confession
speed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulder
speed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC parade
speed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack