Charleston Shooting: Dylann Storm Roof’s Prior Arrest Record — Third Strike This Year Alone

Dylann Storm Roof, the Charleston shooting suspect, had two prior arrests before being apprehended in North Carolina for the Emanuel AME Church massacre.

If you don’t know, Dylann Roof was arrested in Shelby, North Carolina, after trying to escape in his black Hyundai. However, after being spotted, tailed, apprehended, and returned to Charleston, it seems that it’s not the first time the shooter has worn a set of handcuffs.

In various reports, Dylann has a history that precedes him. Along with his endeavors amid “white supremacy,” he has a criminal record of invading privacy as well as alleged drug usage.

According to National Public Radio (NPR), the news source obtained copies of the police reports from both instances. On February 28, 2015, Roof was at the Columbiana Mall — in Columbia, South Carolina — with drugs in his possession.

Dylann’s drug charge was due to some highly suspicious store-to-store activity at an area mall. The future Charleston shooter went to Shoe Dept. and Bath & Body Works, asking employees strange and even personal questions. As reports News Oklahoma, the suspect approached the assistant manager in Shoe Dept. and creeped her out. The manager, Chris Spears, quotes as follows.

“He was asking her all kinds of personal questions, wanting to know work schedules. She was busy working and she felt uncomfortable, so she called security and they came and got him. [It was] like he was on drugs … really creepy.”

Spears also says that he was “wanting to basically see how we ran things.”

In the police report, the arresting officer states that Roof said his parents were forcing him to get a job, and that’s why he was going to the different stores. However, when the officer asked if Dylann had acquired or filled out any job applications, the suspect replied that he hadn’t.

Then, after asking if he had any drugs on him — due to his nervous countenance — the officer got Roof’s permission to search him. That’s when he found a bottle containing orange strips. Dylann said that they were Listerine strips but soon confessed that they were Suboxones, Schedule III narcotics. On those grounds, the officer arrested the suspect and impounded the 2000 Hyundai Elantra.

Dylann Roof was banned from the mall for a year. However, that’s how his second arrest came about on April 26, 2015. He returned to the mall just a few months later. The police report reads as follows.

“I made contact with the above suspect in the parking lot zone #1. Then, I placed the suspect under arrest for trespass after notice. The suspect was on one-year ban from mall from an incident on 02-28-2015, Case #150005592. The complaintant (Birchey) provided the ban paperwork upon contact with the suspect. The suspect was then placed on a three-year ban 04-26-2015 to 04-26-2018. The suspect’s vehicle was turned over to his mother. The suspect was transported to Lexington County Detention Center by MPO Priest.”

Then, there’s the third and possibly final strike — Dylann Storm Roof and the Charleston shooting. According to the Inquisitr, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley says that she wants to opt for the death penalty.

What do you think should be the AME church shooter’s sentence? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

[Photo Credits: Twitter]