FBI Arrests Friend of Alleged Charleston Church Shooter Dylann Roof
Citing unnamed officials, The Post and Courier reports that federal agents have arrested 21-year-old Joseph Meek, Jr., the South Carolina man who Dylann Roof briefly lived with before allegedly killing nine people at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church in June.
It is not yet known what charges Roof’s childhood friend faces, but the Associated Press reports that Meek was sent a “target letter” last month informing him he was under investigation for lying to police and for knowing about a crime before or after it was committed and failing to report it. From NBC News:
After the murders, Meek told reporters that he and Roof had been friends in middle school, and that Roof had recently made contact.
Meek said Roof had told him he wanted “segregation” and said “he didn’t believe in what the black race was doing to the white race” in the days before the killings.
Meek, of Lexington, told AP that Roof said he used birthday money from his parents to buy a .45-caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun, which Meek took away from him the night of his drunken rant but gave back to him when Roof had sobered up.
On Saturday, The Washington Post published a lengthy profile of Meek and the mobile home he once shared with Roof.
“People think it’s my fault,” Meek told reporter Stephanie McCrummen. “Would you believe your friend if they said something like that when they were drunk? [...] You can’t tell me you would. I didn’t believe it. I brushed it off.”
Earlier this month, prosecutors in South Carolina announced they will seek the death penalty for Roof.