More than seven months after Dylann Roof entered Emanuel AME and fatally shot nine parishioners, including Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the Charleston church has appointed Rev. Dr. Betty Deas Clark as its new pastor.
Originally hailing from nearby Sumter, South Carolina, Rev. Clark was heading Mount Pisgah AME Church. Her first sermon at “Mother Emanuel” was last Sunday, reports the Charleston Post and Courier.
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“It’s not only like coming home, but also mourning with family and grieving with family,” Clark, who has family living in the area, said to the Post. “[I hope]to hear the voice of the people and the voice of God for the people.”
Emanuel AME Church was the site of the deadly June 17 shooting, in which 21-year-old Roof opened fire during a Wednesday night bible study. Roof has been charged with 33 crimes, including nine counts of murder, firearms charges and a federal hate crime.
