Thousands arrive for Obama’s tribute to Charleston victims

Mourners stand up to applaud Sen. Clementa Pinckney during his funeral service, Friday, June 26, 2015, in Charleston, S.C. President Barack Obama will deliver the eulogy at Pinckney’s funeral Friday at College of Charleston’s TD Arena near the Emanuel AME Church, the scene of last week’s shooting. AP

CHARLESTON, South Carolina — The first black president of the United States prepared Friday to eulogize the victims of a mass shooting at a historic African-American church, a tragedy that one civil rights activist said was a sign of “how far yet” the nation has to go to put racial tensions behind it.

Thousands of mourners gathered to hear President Barack Obama pay tribute to the Rev. Clementa Pinckney and eight parishioners of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The nine were shot dead at the church by a visitor during a Bible study session last week in what authorities are investigating as a racially motivated attack.

“I’m here to hear Obama speak hopefully on racism, forgiveness and justice,” said local resident Wannetta Mallette. Obama was on his way after addressing the country from the White House in the wake of a historic Supreme Court decision on gay marriage.

Police said they had to turn away hundreds of people, some of them crying, who were still standing in a line that stretched several blocks.

One speaker was Pinckey’s colleague Gerald Malloy, who urged the crowd to keep working for the racial and political unity Charleston has experienced since the shootings. After all, he said, Pinckney’s last act was to open his church to a stranger.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk from Marine One with the Commander of the 89th Airlift Wing Colonel John Millard and his wife Jamie to board Air Force One, Friday, June 26, 2015, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md, en route to Charleston, S.C., to attend services honoring the life of Reverend Clementa Pinckney at the College of Charleston TD Arena. Pinckney was one of the nine people killed in the shooting at Emanuel AME Church last week in Charleston. AP

“Let us not close the doors that Sen. Pinckney gave his life for us to open,” he said.

More details about the 21-year-old suspect in the shooting, Dylann Roof, emerged. He was questioned three months before the deadly rampage by a police officer who found AR-15 gun magazines in his trunk, according to a police document released Friday. The officer found six 40-round magazines as well as part of an AR-15. Roof was questioned but not charged.

Roof has been charged with nine counts of murder. Police say he used a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun in the attack.

The mourning began as the debate over the Confederate flag and other Old South symbols continued around the region. A growing number of politicians have said Civil War symbols should be removed from places of honor.

But some authorities have worried about a backlash as people take matters into their own hands. “Black Lives Matter” was spray-painted on a monument to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday, only the latest statue to be defaced.

Roof appeared in photos with a Confederate license plate, waving a Confederate flag, burning and desecrating U.S. flags on a website created in his name months before the attacks.

Attorney Boyd Young, who represents Roof’s family, issued a statement saying they will answer questions later, but want to allow the victims’ families to grieve.