John Mullins, a former classmate of alleged Charleston shooter Dylann Roof, told CNN Thursday that Roof was “different” to his peers, both quiet and with “kind of a wild side to him, too, where there’s that sort of carelessness about things.”
However, he added, “It never, never crossed my mind that he would go out and murder all those people like that.”
Mullins also told CNN that he and Roof shared mutual black friends with whom Roof sometimes would “sh-t talk,” cracking jokes back and forth. “He would make kind of racist slurs as jokes, but they were never taken seriously in any form or manner,” Mullins said.
However, photos of Roof wearing a jacket decorated with patches associated with white supremacists surfaced quickly after he was taken into custody Thursday. And a survivor of Wednesday’s massacre has reported that Roof said, “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country and you have to go” when one of the young men he allegedly killed was begging for his life.
See Charleston Come Together to Mourn Church Shooting Victims
People sing "We Shall Overcome" during a service at Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, S.C., on June 18, 2015.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty ImagesThe Rev. Sidney Davis leads mourners during a community prayer service for the nine victims of the shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, at Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston, S.C. on June 18, 2015.Chip Somodevilla—Getty ImagesMourners gather outside Morris Brown AME Church for a vigil one day after a mass shooting in Charleston, S.C., on June 18, 2015.Brian Snyder—ReutersMourners hold hands as they pause outside Morris Brown AME Church during a vigil one day after a mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 18, 2015.Brian Snyder—ReutersNine-year-old Liam Eller (R), helps officers move flowers left behind outside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church after the street was re-opened a day after a mass shooting left nine dead during a bible study at the church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 18, 2015.Brian Snyder—ReutersKim Hamby, right, prays with her daughter Kayla, 4, as they lay flowers at a makeshift memorial down the street from where a church shooting killed nine people in Charleston, S.C., on June 18, 2015.David Goldman—APPeople sit on the steps of the Morris Brown AME Church while services are held one day after the church shooting in Charleston, S.C., on June 18, 2015.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty ImagesPeople wait outside of Morris Brown AME Church while services are held in Charleston, S.C., on June 18, 2015.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty ImagesPeople gather outside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church after the street was re-opened a day after a mass shooting left nine dead during a bible study at the church in Charleston, S.C., on June 18, 2015.Brian Snyder—ReutersReverend Al Sharpton visits the memorial site at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church where nine people were murdered in Charleston, S.C., on June 18, 2015.John Taggart—EPAMourners cast shadows on the walls and the makeshift memorial at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. on June 18, 2015.Brian Snyder—ReutersMourners light candles for the nine victims of the shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 18, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images
