Updated at 2:25 p.m.:
President Barack Obama's remarks on the Charleston shootings this afternoon were rife with anger and frustration. A portion of the transcript:
"We don't have all the facts, but we do know that, once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun.
"Now is the time for mourning and for healing, but let's be clear.
"At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now. But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it. And at some point, it's going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it. And for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively.
"The fact that this took place in a black church obviously also raises questions about a dark part of our history. This is not the first time that black churches have been attacked. And we know that hatred across races and faiths pose a particular threat to our democracy and our ideals.
"The good news is I am confident that the outpouring of unity and strength and fellowship and love across Charleston today, from all races, from all faiths, from all places of worship, indicates the degree to which those old vestiges of hatred can be overcome. That, certainly, was Dr. King's hope just over 50 years ago, after four little girls were killed in a bombing in a black church in Birmingham, Alabama."
Updated at 1:45 p.m.:
WASHINGTON -- It's not every day that conservative Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., stand side by side.
But on this somber day on Capitol Hill, politics took a backseat to prayer for the victims of the Charleston church shooting. Most of the Senate and a few House members gathered on a field outside the Capitol today as Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said a brief prayer.
Afterwards, Perdue choked up when asked about the moment:
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., also was in the crowd of senators, House members, staffers, and passers-by:
"It puts life back in perspective in a difficult way, and you realize what's important, and in the scheme of things, politics ain't in the top 10."
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Original post: Democratic leaders in the South Carolina legislature have confirmed that state Sen. Clementa Pinckey, who was also pastor of Emanuel AME Church, was among the nine dead killed when a lone, white killer struck during a Wednesday night prayer service.
"He never had anything bad to say about anybody, even when I thought he should," Rutherford, D-Columbia, said. "He was always out doing work either for his parishioners or his constituents. He touched everybody."
…The attack came two months after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Walter Scott, by a white police officer in neighboring North Charleston that sparked major protests and highlighted racial tensions in the area.
The officer has been charged with murder, and the shooting prompted South Carolina lawmakers to push through a bill helping all police agencies in the state get body cameras. Pinckney was a sponsor of that bill.
"It was his speech on the Senate floor about togetherness and belief that we can do better that brought the body-camera bill to passage and garnered largely bipartisan support," Kimpson said.
"He was a moral leader of the Senate, and when he spoke, people listened."
The newspaper reported that Pinckney's desk in the capitol will be draped in black when the state Senate convenes at 10 a.m.
Pinckney was no stranger to Georgia politicians, who worked with him on the seaport project in Jasper County. Rutherford told The State that his work on the port sometimes alienated his colleagues.
"He was a man with a booming voice and notable presence, but always a peaceful, calming presence," Rutherford told the newspaper. "He did not want to pick fights. Even when I was pushing him to pick a fight on the Jasper Port, he said, 'No, we need to do it a different way.' "
Below is a YouTube clip in which Pinckney explains the history and importance of his church in 2013:
In 1998, the veteran Washington Post political reporter, David Broder, met Mr Pinckney and described him as a "spirit-lifter".
We found that Broder column in the AJC archives. A few lines:
The five people I met at the start of their final weekend seminar were as diverse as they were impressive: Rep. Elizabeth Coulson, a Republican and physical therapist, represents a North Shore suburb of Chicago. Sen. Deanna Wiener, a Democrat, has a similar district in suburban Minneapolis. The three men, all Democrats, included one in his 40s, Sen. Steve Doherty of Montana, and two precocious 20-somethings, Reps. Matt Dunne of Vermont and Clementa Pinckney of South Carolina.
All of them are focused on doing things that make a difference in people's lives. Pinckney, an African-American Democrat in his first term in a chamber controlled by white Republicans, enlisted support from the Republican majority leader to extend the state's economic development tax credits to small counties like his own. Jasper County now has an industrial park and a new industry providing 125 jobs…
They are not naive or Pollyannaish. They know that legislatures are held in low regard in many states, and they are troubled by the influence lobbyists exert, especially where term limits have made novice lawmakers even more dependent on ''the suits'' for information.
Pinckney said, ''The problem we face as legislators, in hearing from all these different interests, is figuring out what interest we do not hear from . . . poor people, mothers with children, who may not be the big guns."
''Our people expect the best of us, " he said. "They do not send us to the state capitol just to be buddy-buddy with the wingtips. They send us to take care of the people's business, and those of us who take hold of that responsibility, understand that's what it's really about.''
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Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, weighed in on the Charleston shooting this morning to a couple of reporters at the Capitol, comparing it to the 1963 Birmingham church bombing.
"If you cannot go to a church and study the Bible and pray, where can we turn as a nation and as a people? I think this guy thought it out very well. Apparently he took time to talk to the pastor of the church and be seated next to him and suggested to one lady that she should go out and tell the people what he was about to do. And he just executed men and women.
"And now you're going to have many churches having security at the churches. It is frightening, really."
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From state Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler, D-Lithonia, who chairs the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus:
"This tragic act is more than personal to me as it affects my heart on several levels. Serving currently as an AME minister, our church has been attacked, as a state elected official, my colleague has been slain and as a Black person in America, my life has been threatened. The safety for African Americans in this country is rapidly becoming questionable as we have seen over and over."
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