The nine victims of the shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, are being remembered by their friends and family as being "kind-hearted" people devoted to their faith.
Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two who was first elected to the South Carolina Senate at the age of 23. "He was a sweet person," community member Lisa Doctor told NBC News. "He was just a kind-hearted man." Sanders, 26, graduated from Allen University last year with a degree in business administration. His friend, Nai Chaganty, said he helped her "hold onto her faith" after she was in a car accident, and first met him when he saw her drop her wallet and ran after her to return it. "He would give you the clothes off his back," she said.
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.
Hurd, 54, worked for three decades with the Charleston County Public Library. On Thursday, all 16 branches were closed in her honor, and the St. Andrews Library will be renamed the Cynthia Hurd Regional Library. "We think that's a fitting honor for her, for someone who spent 31 years in our community, and it's the very least we can do for someone who was a true public servant," Charleston County Council member Elliott Summey said. Doctor, 49, was a church singer and former community development block grant employee, who "was doing very human, kindly things in our government for others," Summey said. Coleman-Singleton, 49, was a speech therapist and girls' track and field coach at a high school in suburban Charlotte. Jackson, 87, was a longtime church member, and Ethel Lance, 70, was a sexton at Emanuel AME. Simmons, 74, was a member of the church's ministerial staff, and Thompson, 59, was the wife of the vicar of Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church.
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed 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 bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed 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 homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
