Democratic members of the South Carolina Senate memorialize pastor and state Sen. Clementa Pinckney’s Senate desk in wake of Pinckney’s death after a gunman shot and killed him and eight other church members.
The shooting took place last night at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., the oldest AME church in the south.
Pinckney, 41, was the youngest African-American to have been elected to the South Carolina Senate when he did so in 2000 at the age of 27, the Guardian reported. He was elected to South Carolina’s House of Representatives just four years prior.
The democratic senator had advocated for police body cameras and had led a prayer for Walter Scott, the black South Carolina man who was killed by a police officer after trying to run away.
The presiding elder at Beaufort AME Church, Rev. Joseph Darby, said Pinckney was “an advocate for the people,” the Guardian reported.
“He was a very caring and competent pastor, and he was a very brave man,” Darby said, according to MSNBC. “Brave men sometimes die difficult deaths.”
Pinckney became a pastor when he was 18 after five years of preaching. He had a master’s degree in public administration and divinity as well as a degree in business administration, according to the Emanuel church website.
Pinckney is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and two children, Eliana and Malana.
We love you Senator! Thank you for your service..@antjuansea pic.twitter.com/oTbGnGndTD
— SCSenateDems (@SCSenateDems) June 18, 2015
