January 5, 2017
CHARLESTON, S. C. — One by one, friends and family members walked up to the witness stand and testified about the nine black church members gunned down during a Bible study in Charleston on June 17, 2015. They described personalities, future plans and final conversations.
The testimony came during the sentencing phase of Dylann Roof’s death penalty trial. The same jury that convicted the 22-year-old white man of hate crimes and other charges will decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or death. Here are highlights from the testimony Wednesday and Thursday.
A PREMONITION AND A DREAM
Myra Thompson seemed to know something would happen to her. A month before the shootings, daughter Denise Quarles says her mother talked about being confident she’d raised her children with strong morals that would serve them after her death. She also made it clear what she wanted, and didn’t want, for her funeral: Use red nail polish and don’t let the funeral home dye her hair gray or cake-on the makeup.
On the night of the shooting, Quarles said she woke suddenly after a dream about watching her mother drown and hearing a voice saying her mother was gone. Quarles picked up her phone, checked Facebook and learned of the shooting – and her mother’s likely fate.
„I just feel like that was God who spoke to me,“ she said. „That’s why I know where my mom is. She’s in heaven, with everybody else. She’s fine. “
‚DADDY’S DEAD?‘
Jennifer Pinckney huddled under a desk with her 6-year-old daughter, her hand clasped over the girl’s mouth to keep her quiet, as Roof opened fire.
Not knowing for certain if the danger had passed, Pinckney dialed 911 and breathlessly told an operator she had heard shots inside the church.
„I think there’s been a shooting. I’m in the closet, under a desk,“ Pinckney told the operator. „Please hurry. “
On the call, Pinckney tries to comfort her daughter Malana, who had been watching cartoons in her father’s office as he participated in Bible study.
„Daddy’s dead? “ Malana says.
„No, baby, no,“ the mother says. But at that moment, Pinckney said she knew her husband, church pastor Clementa Pinckney, had been killed.
A FUTURE IN THE CHURCH
The Rev. Anthony Thompson said his wife, Myra, was a dedicated person of faith who did her best to enjoy life.
Thompson cried as he described a conversation with his wife about their future plans to move and pursue studies and careers in the church.
„She was my world, and she was gone,“ he said. „I’m just glad to know she’s somewhere… where somebody can take care of her better than I ever could. “
DEVOTED FRIEND
Sharonda Coleman-Singleton was a high school track coach. But the ministry was her calling. She was able to relate to a room full of people like they were talking one-on-one.
„She wanted to teach you,“ said friend Rita Whidbee.
Coleman-Singleton’s daughter told jurors her mother would pray over her children before they went to sleep.
„Before I went to her with all my problems, and now I go to God,“ Cam’Ryne Singleton said.
AN ANGEL
Bethane Middleton described her sister, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49, as a tender woman who took care of her. She had a beautiful voice.
„I consider her a borrowed angel,“ Middleton said.
THE OPEN ROAD
Daniel „Dapper Dan“ Simmons, 74, was so nicknamed for his shiny shoes and fine hats. His son, Dan Simmons Jr., said his father adored his grandchildren and spoke with them often, always willing to travel wherever was necessary to spend time with people he loved.
One of the first black drivers hired by Greyhound, Simmons loved to drive, up until the day of his death, his son said.
„He just loved everything about life,“ Simmons said.
OTHER VICTIMS
Cynthia Hurd, 54, was a librarian. Ethel Lance, 70, was the church sexton who kept the bathrooms and building immaculately clean.
Susie Jackson, 87, sang in the church choir and Tywanza Sanders, 26, was Jackson’s nephew and an aspiring poet.

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MEXICO CITY — Anger over gasoline price hikes in Mexico fueled more protests and looting Thursday, and officials said the unrest had resulted in the death of a policeman and a bystander, the ransacking of 300 stores and arrests of over 600 people.
The country’s business chambers said the combination of highway, port and terminal blockades and looting this week forced many stores and businesses to close and threatened supplies of basic goods and fuel.
Mexicans were enraged by the 20 percent fuel price hike announced over the weekend as part of a government deregulation of the energy sector. Protesters began blocking highways and gas stations, and some people have broken into stores to carry off merchandise.
Authorities said one policeman was run over and killed and another was seriously injured when they tried to stop robberies at a gas station in Mexico City. Police in the capital said they had arrested 76 people for looting about 29 stores.
In the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, a pickup truck trying to flee police during a store looting ran over a pedestrian, killing him, officials said.
Veracruz Gov. Miguel Angel Yunes Linares ventured out Thursday and tried to persuade a crowd not to attack a grocery store that had already been looted a day earlier. He offered the crowd coupons for $23.25 if they would desist from looting.
In Mexico State, which borders Mexico City, 430 people had been detained as suspected looters. Four state police officers were fired and detained after they were caught on video taking some looted items and putting them in their patrol vehicles.
With blockades affecting gas distribution terminals to gas stations, the Communications and Transport Department announced it would cancel permits for truckers who block roads.
Truck and taxi drivers have been among the most affected by the fuel price increases, which took effect as the government ends regulated prices for gasoline and diesel, which it says represented subsidies that unduly benefited wealthier Mexicans.
The change boosted the average price for a liter of premium gasoline to about 90 cents. That makes 4 liters, or about a gallon, equal to nearly as much as Mexico’s just raised minimum wage for a day’s work – about $4.
President Enrique Pena Nieto said Wednesday that he would try to help groups hit hard by the increases.
“I understand the anger and irritation felt by the general public” over the price increases, Pena Nieto said. But, he added, “If this decision had not been taken, the effects and consequences would have been far more painful.”
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Investigators say a man with a gun may have fired at officers before he was shot and killed in Tennessee.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine says the shooting occurred Thursday afternoon after a man called 911 saying he was in the woods in Franklin County with a gun.
DeVine says six officers tried negotiation but the situation escalated. TBI is working to verify that the man fired at the officers, resulting in up to five officers returning fire.
He was rushed to a hospital and died. TBI identified him as 40-year-old Randy Wayne Cole.
The officers were from Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Monteagle Police Department and Sewanee Police Department.
TBI won’t identify officers involved.
The investigation is ongoing.

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