Church shooting suspect’s sister raises money for wedding
Jul 2, 2015, 12:18 PM
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The sister of the man accused of killing nine people at a Charleston church has taken down a Go Fund Me profile set up to help pay for her honeymoon and wedding, which was originally planned for the weekend after the slayings.
The page set up in the name of Amber Roof said the June 21 wedding was canceled to “protect our family and mourn the lives of those lost,” and blamed the media in part. Her brother, Dylann Storm Roof, was charged just days before with killing nine people during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
“The media abused our privacy and published all of our wedding information and destroyed our dream day,” the page read.
The page, titled “A Fresh Start For Michael and Amber,” sought $5,000 to cover lost wedding costs, pay bills and fund a “dream honeymoon.”
Dylann Roof wasn’t mentioned anywhere on the fundraising site, which had totaled more than $1,700 in donations as of early Thursday afternoon.
But by 1:30 p.m., the site had vanished. According to Kelsea Little, a spokeswoman for Go Fund Me, the person who set up the page had taken it down. A day ago, an update said: “Thank you for helping us reach our goal of our dream honeymoon!”
Whoever sets up a page can still access the money even after a page is taken down, however.
Amber Roof did not immediately respond to a message sent via the Go Fund Me page, and a working phone number for her could not be found.
In their online message, the couple said they would donate 10 percent of the money that they raised to the church.
“We canceled our wedding to protect our family and mourn the lives of those lost,” wrote the couple, who did not give details about their rescheduled wedding or honeymoon plans.
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Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
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