The hate-filled South Carolina man accused of slaughtering nine worshipers inside a church last year was roughed up in jail Thursday morning, officials said.
Dylann Roof was getting ready for his morning shower when he was assaulted by another inmate inside the Charleston County Detention Center, Sheriff Al Cannon said at a Thursday press conference.
Inmate Dwayne Stafford, 25, “punched (Roof) a number of times and assaulted him quickly” before a jail guard pulled the two apart, Cannon said.
The 22-year-old alleged killer was not seriously injured and returned to his cell after jail medical staffers checked him out.
Roof and his lawyer are not pressing charges against Stafford, who was booked into the jail in January 2015 on strong-armed robbery and first-degree assault charges.
Roof has been in protective custody ever since he was arrested in June 2015.
Under protective custody protocol, jail guards lock all of the center’s other inmates in their cells before allowing Roof out of his to shower to use the rec room. Police are investigating how Stafford was able to get out of his cell while Roof was out of his.
Additionally, two staffers are supposed to watch Roof while he’s out of his cell, but at the time of the attack, one was talking a break and the other was delivering toilet paper to another inmate, Cannon said.
Roof was arrested and charged with nine counts of murder in state court and a slew of federal crimes following alleged rampage inside Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church.
He prayed with the black congregation for an hour during an evening Bible study before he pulled out a gun and opened fire, police said. He killed the church’s senior pastor and eight other worshipers before fleeing the scene. When he was arrested a day later, he told police he wanted to start a race war.
After his capture, police uncovered Roof's bigoted manifesto in which he claimed he has “no choice” but to kill black people. Photos on his social media accounts showed him wrapped in a Confederate flag.
Roof is facing the death penalty in both his state and federal trials.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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