Dylann Roof

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A white man was arrested this morning in the slayings of nine people, including the pastor, at a prayer meeting inside a black church in downtown Charleston.

Dylann Storm Roof, 21, stayed for nearly an hour in the church Wednesday night before shooting six females and three males, Police Chief Greg Mullen said.

Roof was arrested at a traffic stop in North Carolina, Mullen said.

“Acts like this one have no place in our country,” said U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who announced a Justice Department hate crime investigation. “They have no place in a civilized society.”

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church’s pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, was among those killed. Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two who was elected to the state House at 23, making him the youngest member of the House at the time.

“He never had anything bad to say about anybody, even when I thought he should,” State House Minority leader Todd Rutherford said. “He was always out doing work either for his parishioners or his constituents. He touched everybody.”

Roof’s childhood friend, Joey Meek, alerted the FBI after recognizing him in a surveillance camera image that was widely circulated, said Meek’s mother, Kimberly Kozny. Roof had worn the same sweatshirt while playing Xbox videogames in their home recently.

State court records show only one pending felony drug case against him, and a past misdemeanor trespassing charge.

“I don’t know what was going through his head,” Kozny said. “He was a really sweet kid. He was quiet. He only had a few friends.”