--- description: Relatives of Dylann Roof described the alleged Charleston church shooter as a "sweet kid" who got lost in "Internet evil." title: Charleston Shooting Suspect Was Drawn Into 'Internet Evil,' Relatives Say image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Charleston Shooting Suspect Was Drawn Into 'Internet Evil,' Relatives Say  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 21, 2015 9:10 PM CUT  by [Jack Linshi](/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 21, 2015 9:10 PM CUT Relatives of the white man accused of fatally shooting nine people during a Bible study group at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, last week are speaking out, [recalling](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/relatives-charleston-church-shooter-dylann-roof-describe-quiet-sweet-kid-n379071 "undefined") Dylann Roof as a “sweet kid” who later became “painfully shy.” In an interview with NBC News, the 21-year-old’s former stepmother, Paige Mann, acknowledged she had been told by Roof’s mother that he spent a lot of time “locked in his room looking up bad stuff on his computer.” She continued: “Something on the computer drew him in—this Internet evil.” Roof was arrested last Thursday and charged with nine counts of murder and one count of weapon possession. A hate site that emerged in recent days, containing dozens of photos that appear to show Roof with Confederate flags as well as a long, racist screed, is being investigated by the FBI. The site of the attack reopened Sunday morning for the first post-massacre worship service. “I never imagined he’d have anything bad in his heart toward people,” Mann’s mother, Patricia Hastings, said. “I don’t know when Dylann got lost.” \[[_NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/relatives-charleston-church-shooter-dylann-roof-describe-quiet-sweet-kid-n379071 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3929535/charleston-dylann-roof-relatives/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3929535/charleston-dylann-roof-relatives/"},"headline":"Charleston Shooting Suspect Was Drawn Into 'Internet Evil,' Relatives Say","datePublished":"2015-06-21T21:10:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:23:29.587Z","description":"\"Something on the computer drew him in\"","url":"https://time.com/3929535/charleston-dylann-roof-relatives/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3929535/charleston-dylann-roof-relatives/","name":"Charleston Shooting Suspect Was Drawn Into 'Internet Evil,' Relatives Say"}}]}] ```