Accused Charleston shooter should have not been able to buy, FBI says

The FBI said that the man accused of fatally shooting nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina church last month should not have been able to purchase a firearm.

The Washington Post reported that on Friday FBI Director James B. Comey said the suspect Dylann Roof, 21, was able to obtain a gun because of short-comings and breakdowns in the agency’s background-check system.

“This case rips all of our hearts out, but the thought that an error on our part is connected to a gun this person used to slaughter these people is very painful to us,” he said.

The background check failure allowed Roof to purchase a .45-caliber Glock handgun on April 11. The weapon was the same used to murder nine people during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in what police have called a racially motivated attack.

Roof was arrested for possessing Suboxone in February, but the background examiner did not see his arrest record because the wrong arresting agency was listed in his file.

He has been charged with the nine murders, three attempted murder charges and a weapon offense.

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