UPDATE: Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten identified the nine people killed at a historic African-American church as state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, 41; Cynthia Hurd, 54; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Sharonda Singleton, 45; Myra Thompson, 59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie Jackson, 87; the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; and DePayne Doctor, 49.
Rev. Myra Thompson: She was the mother of a member Atlanta's Big Bethel AME Church and was helping to lead the Bible study during the mass shooting in Charleston on Wednesday night, Channel 2 Action News reported. Rev. John Foster, the senior pastor of Big Bethel AME, told Channel 2 that praise team singer Denise Quarles heard about the shooting late Wednesday, but it was several hours before she confirmed her mother was among those killed. "I called and prayed with her this morning as she was on her way up to South Carolina," Foster said.
DePayne Doctor: He was an enrollment counselor at Southern Wesleyan University's Charleston Campus, according to a friend.
ORIGINAL STORY: A white man killed three men and six women at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., Wednesday night, apparently because they were black, police said.
By early Thursday afternoon, the names of the nine people killed had not been publicly released by police. But as family members and friends learned loved ones died, many came forward with information on those slain.
The Post and Courier in Charleston identified six of those killed, including two pastors, a library manager, a high school coach, a church employee and a recent college graduate.
State Sen. Clementa Pinckney: A married father of two, Pinckney was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives at age 23, making him the youngest member of the House at the time. He was a graduate of Allen University in Columbia. He was 41.
Cynthia Hurd: She worked as the St. Andrews regional branch manager from the Charleston County Public Library system, which closed its 16 locations Thursday in her honor.
Sharonda Coleman-Singleton: A speech therapist and coach of the girls' track and field team at Goose Creek High School, Coleman-Singleton is the mother of Charleston Southern freshman baseball player Chris Singleton. She previously was a track athlete at South Carolina State. She also was a pastor at Emanuel AME Church, according to the church's website.
Tywanza Sanders: Allen University said Sanders was a 2014 graduate, earning a degree in business administration.
Ethel Lance: She had worked for 30 years at the church, according to her grandson.
Susie Jackson: She was Lance's cousin and also a longtime church member, a relative said.
About the Author
