nbc10's dave wagner is live on the scene in charleston. dave, set the scene for us here. >> reporter: i'm a block and a half away from the emanuel ame church. police have it blocked off in each direction. unfortunately, this church that has such a great history about it really steep in tradition. it is the oldest ame church in the south, now has become a crime scene. as you mentioned, a gunman walked into this church about 9:00 last night, 9:05 to be exact. a prayer meeting going on. he opened fire. a lone gunman according to police. police are calling this a hate crime and they are searching this community with the help of both the fbi, the south carolina law enforcement division as well as local police around here. they say they are committed to finding him and believe they will but, right now this community is reeling because this is a relatively safe city

now let's go to nbc's dave wagner who has been speaking with community members ahead of this sad day. good morning. >> reporter: yeah, it is a sad day, eun. good to talk to you this morning. the body of clementa pinckney remains inside emanuel ame church right now. it will be moved to the college of charleston later on today. more than 20 people are expected to speak before president obama is at the service that's expected to last for hours we're told. the first lady, the president and hillary clinton will be in attendance here. we should be point out, there are six more funerals planned for the nine victims of the mass shooting. meantime, dylann roof remains in the jail about eight miles away, facing nine counts of murder. we should also point out here, eun, that this is where being held on the college of the campus of charleston only holds about 5,400 people. so they'll have areas in the community, some businesses, all the television stations are going to broadcast this service live. but again, it will be a long

joining us now dave wagner. what can you tell us about the suspect? >> reporter: we can tell you at this point it's a fairly general description in some respects. it's a 21-year-old white male they're saying wearing timber land boots and a hoody. that's the extent of the description they've given. talking about a possible reward leading to the arrest of the suspect. that's expected to be announced later today. about a block and a half from the crime scene hear emanuel ame is the historic church in the area. >> was this a hate crime? >> it will be investigated as a hate crime. fbi would be here regardless because of size and scope of the investigation. they're our partners and would be here to help us regardless. they're here for that specific reason also. >> the only reason someone could walk into church and shoot people praying is out of hate. the only reason. >> what we need is for the community to look at this and say we have had enough of this violence. if we stand up together we can stop this violence. that's what we need the community to do. i u

. >> nbc dave wagner is in charleston. how did they end up catching this guy? >> reporter: well it was an amazing amount of police work and community involvement. we saw the picture that went out over the news. that helped and citizen involvement. four hours from here a woman in the shelby north carolina area thought she spotted the suspect's car, alerted police. they were able to capture him. good community police work and good community involvement as well. i want to show you the emanuel ame church this morning. it's become a memorial here. we see nine bows on the side of the street. for each of the nine victims. it's a sad sight in charleston where people are grieving and asking why. >> less than 24 hours since nine families members were told their loved ones were gunned down in the place of worship. >> she was my sister but she was a joy. >> for melvin gram he has competing emotions. >> the suspect in this case is 21 years old. according to investigators, dylann roof went to the church an hour before the shootings asked to join the bible study and opened fi

back to you. >> dave wagner reporting. thanks. >>> many churches are reconsidering safety after the shooting. a pastor at zion ame church at point breeze met with church members to talk about how to keep worshippers safe. they plan to add remote door looks and security cameras and staying connected with police about nearby crime issues. >> in the church and in the community, we really do need to be careful. we need to solidify our security measures here. >> the church is creating a security team many of them are former military or have security experience. and you can count on nbc 10 for updates on the court case against the accused gunman in charleston today. download our nbc 10 news app for instant updates. >>> happening today, president obama will speak to the nation's mayors. the u.s. conference of mayors is holding its annual meeting in san francisco today. it's a return engagement for the president who welcomed them to the white house in january. baltimore's mayor will lead the conference with the spotlight on civic

. >> nbc's dave wagner is live in charleston. dave, give us an update of what's going on. >> reporter: good morning from charleston south carolina here. i am across from emanuel ame church right here. this is the church where nine people were gunned down. much of the police tape has been removed. yesterday was a crime scene, today it's become really a memorial. there are flower all over here including the ribbons for the nine vicks. the suspect as you mentioned is back here in charleston will be in court today. a community vigil is planned tonight. this community is really still reeling. this is a tight-knit community, a proud community. this is one of the darkest chapter's in the city's 335-year history. it's really a tremendously tough time for them. that is the latest coming in from charleston, south carolina. back to you. >> dave wagner working for us in charleston this morning. >>> many churches are reconsidering safety after that shooting. >> yes, that includes churches right here in our area. a pastor at the zion ame churc

. >> now, for the very latest, we go to nbc's dave wagner. >> police say a gunman walked into a prayer meeting at the emanuel ame church in downtown charleston and opened fire. >> we were able to the determine there were eight deceased individuals inside of the church. two individuals were transferred to the musc one of them has died. so at this died we have nine victims in this heinous crime that has been committed. >> nbc news has learned that south carolina state senator clementa pinckney is among the dead. he was the senior pastor of the church. there are survivors, but police did not say how many. police say the suspect is a white man in his early 20s with sandy blonde hair. authorities also confirmed that the fbi is involved in the investigation. >> i do believe this was a hate crime. >> the city's mayor is appealing for unity. >> one hateful person that did these dastardly deeds, one hateful person so all of the rest of us need to work to help find this person give the police any leads you might find and then give love and support -- >> and help from the voice of the lord. >> wh

nbc's dave wagner has the latest from charleston. >> reporter: the hunt for the suspected gunman is over. >> this is a very dangerous individual. he should not be approached. >> reporter: police say 21-year-old dylann roof was captured in rural shelby north carolina after an overnight manhunt that spread across two states. >> this is unfathomable and unspeakable act by somebody filled with hate. >> reporter: roof seen on surveillance video, entering the ee manu wall meth dit episcopal church allegedly opened fire on a bible study meeting. according to police roof spent more than an hour attending the bible study before opening fire on the group. officials believe it was a targeted attack. >> in this case there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it is a hate crime. >> reporter: eight people were killed at the scene, one victim later died at a nearby hospital. >> no warning at all. no warning at all. >> reporter: among those killed the famed church's pastor who was a south carolina state senator. >> he was a great senator but he took more pride in being a pastor of a congregation who r

dave wagner nbc news charleston south carolina. >> and south carolina governor nikki haley spoke about the deadly church shooting on the "today" show. she called it a hate crime and says the entire state is devastated by the shooting. >> any time there's a traumatic swashgs people want something to blame, they always want something to go after. there's one person to blame here. a person filled with hate. a person that does not define south carolina and we're going to focus on that one person. >> the governor also stressed the shooting suspect dylann roof should have to face the death penalty if convicted. >>> back in our area governor chris christie spoke about the charleston church massacre during a speech at faith and freedom, conference in washington, d.c. >> the idea that anyone that any human being would walk into a church and sit is there for an hour and pray for people that he intended to murder is depraifd. it's unthinkable. >> the governor went on to ask everyone to pray for the families of the victims. >>> and people of all faiths in philadelphia are mourning the deaths and s

let's go to nbc's dave wagner now who has been speaking with community members. dave, good morning. >> reporter: yeah, good morning to you, eun. the body of clementa pinckney the pastor of emanuel ame church remains inside right now. the body will be moved to the college of charleston a little bit later for the funeral. we should point out here that the arena where this is being held, only 5,400 people can get inside there. that's capacity. so there's expected to be some overflow areas in various spots throughout the community. more than 20 people are expected to speak before president obama. so this is going to be a very, very long service. we are talking maybe three to four hours. the president is expected to speak about 30 minutes. he says that he wants this to be very much a eulogy not a political statement. so we are expecting that. the first lady the vice president, house speaker john boehner, hillary clinton all expected to be here as well. six more funerals are planned here for the shooting victims. all nine shooting victims and two more are planned for l

nbc's dave wagner reports. the announcement came with a combination of big personality and political punches. >> thank you, new jersey. >> in the high school where he was once elected class president, new jersey governor chris christie launched his latest campaign. >> today i am proud to announce my candidacy for the republican nomination for president of the united states of america. >> he quickly pivoted with a series of shots at president obama and the democratic front-runner. >> after seven years of a weak foreign policy run by barack obama we better not turn it over to his second mate hillary clinton. >> in a field of 14 republicans christie is trying to differentiate himself as a straight talker. >> i mean what i say and i say what i mean. that's what america needs right now. >> he will bring a different kind of energy to this race, chris that will push and test the scott walkers and the jeb bushes in their establishment corner. >> once a leading contender, he's viewed by many as a long shot with a laggin

they're actively searching for this guy. >> all right, dave wagner, thank you. >>> 6:49 right now. jeb bush cancelled his events in charleston because of this mass shooting. he released a statement saying his thoughts are with the families. and the naacp condemned the shooting saying in part, quote, there is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of god and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture. look for another live update from charleston coming up in a few minutes on "today." >>> 6:50 your time now and today a virginia judge will hear from the victim of a sexual assault to determine the punishment for the man who attacked here. jesse matthew will be sentenced in october for attempted capital murder and sex assault in this case. today the victim will testify about the effect the 2005 attack in fairfax had on her life. matthew faces murder charges also in the death of uva student hannah graham. >>> all eyes on the supreme court as early as this morning, it could rule on one of multiple major cases. the big ones include gay marriage and health ca

nbc10 national correspondent dave wagner is live in charleston. what have you learned about this? >> reporter: morning has brought grim reality that something terrible has happened in charleston. the church behind me is surrounded in crime scene tape. police intensified their sumpb for the suspect. the hunt for the suspected gunman is on. >> this is a very dangerous individual. he should not be approached. >> reporter: police say 21-year-old dylann roof seen on surveillance video opening the church open fire on a bible study meeting inside wednesday night. this is unfathomable and unspeakable act by somebody filled with hate and with a deranged mind. >> reporter: the suspect more than an hour attending bible study before opening fire on the group. officials believe it was a targeted attack. >> in this case there's no doubt in my mind it's a hate crime. >> reporter: eight people were killed at the scene, one victim later died at a nearby hospital. >> no signs at all. >> reporter: among those killed the famed church's pastor who was a south carolina state senator. >> he was a great

dave wagner nbc's dave wagner for us here in charleston. dave thank you so much. the fbi, again, has opened a hate crime investigation into the shooting. but before roof was arrested in north carolina attorney general loretta lynch spoke briefly about the events in charleston. >> acts like this one had no place in our country and no place in a civilized society. >> lenny due paul is a retirement chief inspector and commander for the u.s. marshals service. lenny, thank you for being with me. can you walk us through what will happen next? at this point, my understanding is that he is in the process of being extradited here to charleston and should be here in the next three hours. can you confirm that information? do you know anything about that? >> actually, i do not. i cannot confirm nor deny any of that. the takedown went without incident. i thought law enforcement acting accordingly. they had pretty good video and a shot of this guy. the vehicle was in play. i'm sure they had that license plate out there and they certainly put a bolo out as soon as they identifie

nbc's dave wagner joins us live from charleston with more. dave, good morning. >> reporter: yeah good morning to you eun. i'm across the street now from the emanuel ame church right now. you can see an awful lot of reporters out here, but beyond them there are a lot of flowers and nine bows, one for each of the victims gunned down. the 21-year-old suspect is due in court today here in charleston. i did speak with the brother of one of the women gunned down inside this church. he said he's all about forgiveness, but at the same time, he would like dylann roof to meet his maker sooner than later. those are his words here. roof's capture was a combination of good police work and really community involvement. we all saw those photographs that were released, the surveillance photos, of dylann and photos of his car. well, there was a woman four hours away from here, part-time florist up in shelby, north carolina. she was driving down the road. thought she saw that car and ense plate. and then began to follow it. she had a friend call police and the

dave wagner, nbc news. >> chris christie's announcement follows a year of slipping ratings. let's take a look at some of the numbers. they come from several rutgers/eagleton polls for the past year. the first right there, february 2013. among new jersey residents, christie had a favorable rating of 70%. fast forward to april 2015. this year. that number dropped to 38%. that same poll in april found that 24% of people in new jersey thought chris christie would make a good president. one professor of political science says while the decline may hurt voters elsewhere may not care that much how new jerseyians feel. we went to camden city hall to get reaction about christie's announcement. even the people who had something good to say about what he's done in new jersey said they still wouldn't vote for him. >> with the pensions they kept their word they put their money in the pensions but he didn't put any money back in the pensions so if he's breaking his word now, how's he going to keep his word in the white house? >> he says one thing and does another. he lacks integrity as fa

dave wagner, nbc news. >>> marine biologists and beach patrol units up and down the jersey shore calming fears today. they say it's been almost 100 years since someone died of a shark bite in the new jersey surf. mako, blue shark and thresher sharks will travel north to delaware and new jersey when the water temperature warms in august but usually stay miles off the coast. beach patrol units are always keeping an eye out. >> you're playing in the water, splashing around having fun, some things do attract sharks. sharks will look for someone by themselves. always swim together. that's a good idea for general safety. >> when a shark bites a person experts say it's a case of mistaken identity. they really have no interest in humans as prey. for towns all along the jersey shore, the warmer it gets, the better business gets. so you would think the red carpet would be rolled out for as many visitors as possible. not exactly. wait until you hear why the mayor of one beach town actually closed off the area to traffic. >>> keeping the promise to cut crime and grow jobs. philadelphia's mantua sect

. >> and we want to go to abc's dave wagner, he's in charleston right now. how did they end up catching this guy? >> reporter: it was a combination of solid police work and stips from the public. people are relieved here as they continue to grieve. the pain is palatable less than 24 hours since nine family members were told their family was gunned down. >> she was my sister. >> reporter: for melvin graham reflection and retribution are competing emotions. >> obviously, god forgives but i want to expedite the meeting between him and god. >> reporter: according the investigators dylann roof went to the church an hour before the shootings, asked to join the bible study, then opened fire. eight would die inside the church, and a 9th died at the hospital. after an all out man hunt, he was found in shelby north carolina. an alert citizen called police after recognizing the suspect. >> the subject is now in custody. >> reporter: president obama said now is the time for healing but also called for meaningful change when it came to american's access to guns. >> at so

joining us now dave wagner. what can you tell us about the suspect? >> reporter: we can tell you at this point it's a fairly general description in some respects. it's a 21-year-old white male they're saying wearing timber

. >> dave wagner live in charleston. thank you. investigators are continuing to learn more about 21-year-old can dylann roof. here's more on his history and run-ins with the law. >> 21-year-old roof was raised in columbia and lexington, south carolina. earlier he had run-ins with the law. in march he was arrested for possession of narcotic after employees told police he was asking suspicious questions about operations. at the say same mall, he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge. he was banned from the mall three years. his facebook page showed his jacket bearing flags. south carolina senator and presidential candidate lindsey graham told abc "the view" his niece went to school with roof. >> strange, disturbed man. >> marcia said she would see roof at a local restaurant. >> sometimes you look at people with different hair cut and different eyes and he looked like he needed love. >> records show roof went to school in lexington, entered high school there and repeated the ninth grade. no indication of whether he graduated. this afte

. >> joining me now from oak island is msnbc's dave wagner. dave authorities won't tell people that it's safe to go in the water just yet but what are they saying about the beaches and the water itself? >> yeah thomas the beaches are open right now. but people are kind of self regulating here. we see very few people going in much further than maybe ankle deep or perhaps knee deep in some cases. very few people going in the water. i want to introduce you you tim hol man, manager of oak island. what went into the decision to allow the beaches to stay open here? >> we had a lot of resources, a lot of beaches. we had a helicopter up earlier. it will be out again this afternoon. we've had beach patrols on the beach talking to people. we are trying to get our hands on some brochures to tell people what to do to prevent any kind of shark encounters. with that information, keeping the beach open and letting people be discretionary as for their participation in the water sports. >> the young girl who was injured yesterday in the shark attack, she was i

let's head over to dave wagner. he's in charleston, south carolina. dave, we're just seeing this clearly old mug shot of dylann roof. >> reporter: right, right. let me just tell you, jose. he is believed to be driving a black hyundai with the vehicle tag lgf330. a black hyundai. the vehicle tag, lgf330. anyone with information is asked to call the 1-800-call-fbi number. as you mentioned, they've been looking for this individual. we have now gotten confirmation that this is who they are looking for. the particularly sad part of this, jose is that last night -- after last night, they knew who this suspect was. but unfortunately many people who have family members who were killed inside there are waiting for word that their family members have either died or are okay. i spoke with a man just a few moments ago who said that he knows his sister was going to that church last night and was expected to be a part of that. but he has not heard confirmation whether or not she is among the victims. they are still processing the crime scene behind me. it is sort o

our team coverage continues with nbc's dave wagner in charleston. dave? >> reporter: the hunt for the suspected gunman is on. >> this is a very dangerous individual. he should not be approached. >> reporter: police say 21-year-old dylann roof seen her on surveillance video opened fire on a bible study meeting inside wednesday night. >> this is unfathomable and unspeakable act by somebody filled with hate and with a deranged mind. >> reporter: the suspect spent more than an hour attending the bible study before opening fire on the group. officials believe it was a target attack. >> in this case there is absolutely no doubt in my mind it is a hate crime. >> reporter: eight people were killed at the scene. one victim later died at a nearby hospital. >> no waerng at all. no science at all. >> reporter: among those killed the famed church's pastor, who was a south carolina state senator. >> he was a great senator. but he took more pride in being a pastor of a congregation who relied on him for spiritual guidance. >> reporter: the church is the oldest ame churc

as nbc's dave wagner shows us all the beaches along that coast are still open for business. dave? >> reporter: they sure are jim, should point out there is record heat in north carolina now. if you look down the beach, you will see very, very few people in the water, maybe up to their ankles maximum here after a series of shark attacks. beachgoers they are concerned. brutally hot sunday, the oak island, north carolina, surf was teeming with swimmers, including a 12-year-old girl who was viciously attacked by a shark. >> there is a girl whose hand had been bitten off by a shark. >> reporter: an hour later and 50 blocks away, a 16-year-old boy was attacked. serious bleeding. i'm watching. yes, sir. >> okay. is he alert right now? >> reporter: both victims lost their left arms. >> i've ever treated anything like this, to inflict that kind of damage have to be a relatively large shark. >> reporter: in a state where there were just four shark attacks last year, there have been three in just four days this year, including a 13-year-old girl who was attacked on her boogie board 30 miles

dave wagner is live where we just got good news about the boy dave? >> reporter: we did chris, just got news that the 16-year-old boy injured actually lost his left arm in a shark attack is now in good condition. he was in stable condition last night. that's the good piece of news we have. it is record heat here in north carolina, but you respect seeing many people venturing very far into the water, maybe ankle deep at most after a series of shark attacks. beachgoers are worried. are a brutally hot sunday, the oak island, north carolina, surf was teeming with swimmers, including a 12-year-old girl who was viciously attacked by a shark. >> there is a girl whose happened had been bitten off by a shark. >> reporter: an hour late and 50 blocks away, a 16-year-old boy was attacked. serious bleeding. i'm watching. yes, sir. >> okay. is he alert right now? >> reporter: both victims lost their left arms. i've ever treated anything like this, to inflict that kind of damage have to be a relatively large shark. >> reporter: in a state where there were just four

dave wagner, nbc news. >>> governor christie already sat down with the "today" show's matt lauer for his first official interview after announcing his run for the presidency. part one of that interview will air tonight on "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. part two airs tomorrow on "today." >>> a new harvard study reveals a possible link between citrus and skin cancer. researchers looked at dates for more than 100,000 americans. they discovered that those who drank lots of orange juice or ate a lot of grapefruit had a greater chance of developing melanoma. both contain a compound making skin more sensitive to sunlight. other fruits and vegetables didn't not affect the risk of melanoma. >>> we're getting the 911 call that followed a shark attack that nearly killed a teenager on the outer banks. let's take a listen. >> i saw it. oh my god. >>. [ inaudible ] >> someone got bit by a shark. >> i got people already in the water. i'm going to have people -- are you with the patient now? >> no. i'm like down the beach a little bit. but no one was calling 911. >> wow. >> that's scary stuff.

jepcon and dave wagner are at a block party that night in tinley park, illinois. >> we were just having a couple of beers, maybe eating some food, and having a good time. >> but the events that are about to unfold are not, he says, witnessed through beer goggles. >> my son, justin, said, "look, there's strange lights," i believe. >> a ufo. it's moving. nobody believes me. >> they really didn't believe him. and then my brother-in-law, dave, said, "t.j., no, you need to look up." i'm like, "no, you guys are razzing me." "no, look up." i ended up turning my head -- you got to be kidding, what is this? >> i was very excited, screamed to t.j., telling him to get a camera and film it. >> i got it on tape! i have it! >> do you have it? yes, i have it! sounds like "seinfeld," but i have it on tape. >> three bright lights are hovering above tinley park. >> when you zoomed in on them, it became different colored lights -- blue, green, red, white, yellow. it was hard to actually get a solid picture where there was some consistency of what it was. >> it almost looks like it's a triangle of all thre

dave wagner is live in charleston. what can you tell us. >> reporter: you rethe ribbons behind me here nine different ribbons representing the nine victims killed. as you mentioned, the suspect in court today, 21-year-old dylann roof. he will be in court and as for the response to him being captured i talked to the brother of one of the victims who said he hopes the meeting between dylann and god is expedited in other words, he hopes that dylann roof is put to death. that's a possibility in this state, the death penalty is on the table and he'll face those charges today. that is the latest from charleston. back to you. >>> meantime a church in minnesota is taking its own security measures. many members carry guns and they have done so for years now. this is the real believers faith center in minneapolis. where a team of armed men and women who guard the pastor his wife and other church members are fully licensed and trained. the pastor said it's been this way ever since an incident there eight years ago. >> a couple th

let me bring in msnbc's dave wagner. he's in charleston for us right now with the very latest. dave we know that authorities will update us here but at least at this hour we've been able to obtain the information that this suspect was caught in shelby, north carolina. that's nearly a four-hour drive away from the scene. what else are you hearing about when he was apprehended? >> reporter: we're not getting that -- i apologize for the voice because i'm losing it hear. but we are not getting the information here right now. police have been very selective about the information they've released. all along, 14 hours after this crime happened they finally tracked him down. shelby is in the charlotte, north carolina, area. it's kind of a suburban rural community near charlotte. and obviously they were able to track him we know last night when they said they were searching for a 21-year-old man. that was a clear indication to me that they had a specific suspect in mind last night. specifically said, he's 21 years old. to me it was like i knew at that point they probably had their suspe

let's head now to dave wagner, also in charleston. walk us through what happened last night that ultimately led to such a tragic ending. >> reporter: well, it started -- i apologize for my voice. it started around an hour, maybe 8:00 or so, an hour before the actual shootings when the suspect, according to police, went to the church asked to speak to the senior pastor there, and then sat down with the bible study group. so he sat with them for an hour. and then an hour later, ended uptaking their lives. he shot eight people. an additional person taken to the hospital. that person died as well. i did obtain a picture, we interviewed just a short while ago, a man named malcolm graham. malcolm is a former north carolina state senator. he lost his sister in the shootings here. i want to show you a picture of her to get a sense of what a vibrant woman she was. her name was cynthia hurd. she was a librarian here in charleston. she also worked for the charleston housing authority. when they're mother died she became kind of the maternal pers

nbc's dave wagner joins us live from oak island north carolina. you have been talking to those on the beach today. what have they been saying about why they want to be out there today and how they feel about the water? >> reporter: record here in north carolina. 100 degrees right now. the surf it really looks refreshing and beach goers for the most part are steering clear of the water. >> we are still a little his tapt to get in since the attacks happened. considering that it was so close to where we swim it's a little scary to get back in the water. >> reporter: we should mention here that the beachers remainnin open here at oak island and not going out very far at all and concerned about the sharks around here. most people are. i'll point out here that the fishermen at the end of the pier right here they're very sensitive about being blamed for the shark attacks. they do chum the waters a bit out there and using large bait which does atrack sharks and i'll say i talked to the oak island police department and they tell me that you are allowed to

nbc's dave wagner has the latest from charleston.