12:30 a.m. (EDT)
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has responded to the shooting in downtown Charleston.
“While we do not yet know all of the details, we do know that we’ll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another,” she said in a statement early Thursday morning.
Police were still searching for a white male suspect.
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12:09 a.m. (EDT)
The Post and Courier newspaper reports that Mayor Joe Riley has confirmed there are fatalities in a shooting that occurred at the site of a church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.
Riley called the Wednesday night shooting “an unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy.”
An Associated Press reporter on the scene said police were moving members of the media on the site back because of an “imminent” threat.
GOP presidential hopeful Jeb Bush has canceled Thursday events in the area because of the shooting.