Gov. Nikki Haley: Church shooter should get death penalty

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley believes the gunman who killed nine worshippers at a Charleston church should get the death penalty.

“We will absolutely want him to have the death penalty,” the GOP governor said Friday morning of the 21-year-old who went on a shooting spree at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church Wednesday night.

Dylann Storm Roof was arrested Thursday afternoon in North Carolina after the shooting spree. The shooting, which is being considered a hate crime and is under investigation by the Department of Justice, left six women and three men dead, including the church’s minister.

South Carolina does have the death penalty, though it is one of five states that does not have any hate crime laws. It is likely, however, that Roof will be prosecuted by the federal government.

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