Roof attacked by jail inmate

Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C.

Dylann Roof, the white man charged in the massacre of nine black parishioners at a Charleston church, was slugged Thursday by a black inmate at the South Carolina jail where he is being held, Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon said.

Dwayne Stafford ran down the stairs from his cell after Roof went to the shower about 7:45 a.m. and hit him, bruising Roof’s face and back, according to a police report.

The 22-year-old Roof was examined by jail medical personnel and returned to his cell at the Charleston County Detention Center, Sheriff’s Maj. Eric Watson told The Associated Press.

Although authorities initially said Stafford would be charged with assault, Cannon told reporters that Roof and his attorneys don’t want to press charges. The 26-year-old Stafford is awaiting trial on first-degree assault and strong-armed robbery charges.

Roof has been housed at the jail since being brought back from North Carolina a day after the June 17, 2015, slayings of nine parishioners during a Bible study at Emanuel AME Church. He faces the death penalty in upcoming trials in federal and state courts.

Officials are investigating how Stafford managed to get through a steel cell door with a narrow vertical window and down the stairs to reach Roof.

The two detention officers assigned to the unit are being interviewed, and officials also are looking into the possibility the electronic door mechanism malfunctioned.

The area of the jail is for federal and high-security prisoners. It has two tiers of cells, and the shower Roof was using was in the center on the ground floor. Cell doors can be opened only by officers sitting at a control console.