Video recording of Roof saying ‘I killed them’ while laughing is shown for the first time at death penalty trial for June 2015 murders of nine people

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Dylann Roof hesitated for about 20 seconds when an FBI agent asked him what he was doing on the night nine black church members were killed during Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina.



“Uh, I did it,” Roof said in a video recording played for the public for the first time on Friday at his death penalty trial. After he waived his rights and about a minute of small talk, the agents pressed Roof gently – asking him exactly what he did. He paused for another 30 seconds or so.

“I killed them,” Roof said. As he talked more, he chuckled and said, “Well, I killed them, I guess.”

'We are still in mourning': Charleston congregants prepare for Dylann Roof trial Read more

The video was shown on the third day of testimony. Roof is accused of opening fire inside a basement room of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church on 17 June 2015, just as members of the Bible study closed their eyes for a final prayer.

Roof told the agents he did not start firing as soon as he entered.

“I was sitting there thinking about whether I should do it or not. That’s why I sat there for 15 minutes. I could have walked out,” Roof said.

Church surveillance videos indicate Roof was inside closer to 45 minutes. A survivor testified that he was given a Bible and a study guide to follow along with the prayer group.

Roof, as he has for much of the trial, hardly looked up as the confession played, mostly just shuffling papers in front of him at the defense table.

FBI agent Michael Stansbury said he pushed Roof to confess so quickly because he sensed he wanted to talk.

“He was calm. He wasn’t upset,” Stansbury said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dylann Roof is charged with 33 federal counts, including hate crimes. Photograph: Grace Beahm/AP

Roof is charged with 33 federal counts, including murder and hate crimes. His defense has largely conceded that he committed the murders and has instead focused on trying to spare him the death penalty. On Friday, they asked the judge to allow them to present more evidence about his personality and state of mind, and US district judge Richard Gergel said he would decide on a case-by-case basis before jurors begin hearing testimony from a witness.

If jurors find Roof guilty, they will decide whether he should be put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison. Roof has said he wants to represent himself during that penalty phase of the trial.

In the confession, Roof said he left bullets in a magazine so that he could kill himself after the slayings but changed his mind when he did not see any police immediately after the shooting.

At one point, an agent asked if Roof thought about killing more black people.

“Oh no. I was worn out,” Roof said.

He said he chose Emanuel in part because it is the oldest black church in the South and said that the killing of Trayvon Martin was a turning point in his life. Martin, a young unarmed black man, was killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, in 2012. Zimmerman was acquitted.

Charleston shooting survivor calls Dylann Roof 'evil' in tearful testimony Read more

He laughed occasionally throughout the questioning. About 45 minutes into it, agents finally told Roof that he killed nine people.

“There wasn’t even that many people in there,” Roof said incredulously. “Are you lying to me?”

The only other glimpse into Roof’s motivation is a 2,000-word statement he posted online on the afternoon of the shooting and 60 photos he carefully picked from more than 1,000 he had taken, Richardson said. Some of the photos included Roof posing with the Confederate flag.

In Roof’s essay, he said he thought black people were stupid, inferior to white people, and violent. Among other things, he wrote, “we have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”