A gunman who burst into a historic black church in South Carolina and shot dead nine people was this morning still on the loose.
The man, who is white, barged into Charleston's Emanuel AME Church at about 9pm local time, gunning down worshippers as they prayed before apparently making an unfounded bomb threat.
Eight of the victims were found dead at the church, while a ninth died in hospital. A tenth person was injured.
Police said the killer was 21 and had been wearing a sweatshirt, jeans and boots. A man seen with a backpack and a camera near the scene was arrested, but detectives do not believe they have found the shooter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Rev. Clements Pinckney, a SC legislator is among the 9 killed in SC church. I am reminded that he helped lead our prayer vigil for Scott.— Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/TheRevAl/status/611397227391647744" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-25051-https://twitter.com/TheRevAl/status/611397227391647744" data-vars-event-id="c23">June 18, 2015</a>
None of the dead people have been formally identified, but New York civil rights leader Rev Al Sharpton tweeted that the church's pastor Rev Clementa Pinckney was among those killed.
Chief Mullen added the all-clear had been given after checks following the bomb threat.
The church, founded in the early 19th century, claims to have one of the largest and oldest black congregations in the US South.
Addtional reporting by Reuters
