An error by the FBI allowed Dylann Roof to purchase a gun before he killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C. last month, FBI Director James Comey told reporters on Friday.
The 21-year-old white supremacist allegedly used a .45-caliber Glock during the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Church on June 17. But questions have swirled over how he obtained the gun. Roof had a felony charge on his record stemming from a narcotics arrest in February and, thus, should have been prohibited from purchasing a firearm.
Comey told reporters gathered at FBI headquarters that data about Roof’s criminal history was not properly entered into a federal criminal justice database. The information also could have been mishandled by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), Comey said, according to The Washington Post.
“This case rips all of our hearts out, but the thought that an error on our part is connected to a gun this person used to slaughter these people is very painful to us,” Comey told reporters.
It was initially reported that Roof obtained the gun as a birthday present from his father. Gun control advocates argued that this exposed a loophole in gun laws that needed to be fixed. However, it was later revealed that Roof purchased the gun himself on April 11 at a gun shop called Shooter’s Choice in West Columbia, S.C.
TheDC called the gun store multiple times but received busy signals.