The North Carolina police who pulled over and ultimately arrested Charleston mass shooting suspect Dylann Roof stopped on the way to the police station because Roof asked for Burger King, according to a new report from the Charlotte Observer.
The arresting officers recounted that Dylann Roof said he was hungry, having only eaten a bottle of water and a bag of Doritos he got from a gas station earlier in the day. So, after Roof made a request, the officers bought him unspecified food from a Burger King en route to his booking.
“He was very quiet, very calm. He didn’t talk,” said Shelby NC Police Chief Jeff Ledford. “He sat down here very quietly. He was not problematic.”
Hours earlier, Roof shared his manifesto online. In it he said that he “had no choice” but to wage war against blacks. Furthermore, Dylann Roof aroused no suspicions in his interactions with gas station employees because police had not yet identified and shared photos of him.
When authorities did manage to pull Dylan Roof over, it was because a woman had seen those photos and trailed him while calling the police. It appeared that he was headed for the North Carolina mountains, and the Shelby PD–who later handed Roof over to the FBI for questioning–were able to nab him before he got there.
When police asked, Roof said he indended to travel to Nashville. They asked him why, and he responded it was simply because he’d “never been there before.”
Several news outlets have criticized the Shelby Police’s treatment of Dylann Roof, pointing out that he, unlike several other, recent, high-profile suspects in other crimes, was handled respectfully.
(Photo credit: Burger King)
