Prosecutor: Black church shooter had cold, hateful heart

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Dylann Roof had a "cold and hateful heart" when he pulled a pistol from his fanny pack during a Bible study last year and killed nine black church members as they closed their eyes for a final prayer, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Roof sat in the church basement for about a half-hour with 12 parishioners of the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church before opening fire in an attempt to start a race war.

The defense has said repeatedly in both federal court and state court — where Roof faces another death penalty trial next year — that Roof is willing to plead guilty if capital punishment is taken off the table.

Jurors couldn't agree on a verdict for former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, who shot a black man in the back as he was running away from a traffic stop.

The church slayings took place a little more than two months after the Slager shooting, and Charleston has stayed mostly calm, unlike other cities where police shootings and perceived racial injustice has rocked communities.