Caleb Brown, Dylann Roof's close bi-racial childhood friend:
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/dylann-roofs-childhood-friend-speaks-out/
Denies Roof was racist as a child, called Roof's mother one of the nicest women he'd known.
.... Roof, who lived in different parts of the Columbia area, at one point shared a home in downtown's Rosewood neighborhood with his mom, who was divorced.
During their time in Rosewood, Roof's mother reunited with a childhood friend, Linda Brown, who also had a son. Dylann Roof and Brown's son, Caleb, went to the same school and became friends. They often would stay with Roof's mother after the school day ended.
Roof's mother was always kind to Caleb Brown, who is of mixed race, Linda Brown said.
"Although I have not seen them in several years, I can only imagine the pain and the heartache that this monstrous act has caused a woman I knew to be a kind and devoted mother," Brown told The State newspaper. "As a parent, my heart goes out to her. As her friend, I want others to be able to know that whatever Dylann became as a teenager that led him to do this monstrous, heinous act, it was not nurtured by his mother.
"Mostly, my heart goes out to those who have lost their lives and their family members."
Details about Roof's life continued to be elusive, although acquaintances who knew him more recently said he had taken on racist views.
Roof, who The New York Times said had worked at one point as a landscaper, is the grandson of a Columbia lawyer known for his generosity.
Joseph Roof, a long-time real estate lawyer, is a pillar of the community in Richland County, said attorney Cal Watson, past president of the South Carolina Bar. In addition to his community involvement, Joseph Roof also has been involved in the state and local bar associations.
"He's the real deal," Watson said. "He has an outstanding reputation and is an excellent lawyer."
Roof's neatly kept home, in the Earlewood neighborhood of Columbia, was surrounded Friday by parked cars, but no one answered the door. Columbia police officers patrolling the area said the family did not wish to have reporters on their property or contacting them. Phone messages went unreturned.
Dylann Roof's father, Ben, also has been unavailable, and relatives on his mother's side of the family refused comment. Roof also has an older sister who was to have been married recently. Her fiance lives near Shelby, N.C., where Roof was arrested.
[ Roof's sister is the one who called police and identified Dylann after she saw him on church surveillance video. ]
A man answering the door at the mobile home of Carson Cowles, Dylann Roof's uncle - his mother's brother - ordered a reporter from The State to leave the property in rural Lexington County, a day after Cowles was quoted as saying Dylann Roof's mother "never raised him to be like this."
Cowles had told The Washington Post he was so distraught about the killings that, "I'd be the executioner myself if they would allow it," the newspaper reported.
Attempts to locate Dylann Roof's mother were unsuccessful. Records show that a woman identified as his mother lived at the same address as another person on Garners Ferry Road in lower Richland County.
Dylann Roof also listed the Garners Ferry home, a neatly kept log-cabin, as his address when he registered to vote in 2012, according to the state Election Commission. It is where he said he lived when a magistrate judge asked during his bond hearing Friday.
A man who came to the door Friday refused comment and ordered two reporters off the property.
Roof faces outstanding drug charges in Lexington County following his Feb. 28 arrest by Columbia police at Columbiana Centre mall. Police went to the mall upon learning that Roof was going into stores asking "out-of-the-ordinary questions." At the time, police found pills and Roof was arrested.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/roof-family-expresses-remorse-as-nation-cries-over-charleston-massacre/ar-AAbRAdH?ocid=HPCDHP
Sounds like he wasn't raised to be a racist. I think he became a loser first, then turned to racism like the hippie Charles Manson. Some losers to turn to leftwing politics (Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, etc) and environmentalism (think Unabomber in his little cabin in the backwoods). |
