Dylann Roof’s Sister Arrested After Bringing Weapons to School Walkout

A sister of Dylann Roof, the man who massacred nine black churchgoers in South Carolina in 2015, was arrested Wednesday for bringing a knife, pepper spray and marijuana to her high school, authorities said.

Morgan Roof, 18, was arrested on drugs and weapons charges at her high school, A.C. Flora, in Columbia, South Carolina, and taken to a detention center, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said in a statement.

Lott said that a school resource officer was informed by an administrator that Roof had the weapons and drugs. “Roof had also made a social media post on Snapchat which caused alarm to the student body,” Lott said. No students were harmed, he said.

Roof’s Snapchat post criticized students who planned to walk out of class to protest gun violence. “I hope it’s a trap and y’all get shot,” it said. “We know it’s fixing to be nothing but black people walkin out anyway.”

Roof was taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia, and local media reported that her bond was set at $5,000. It was not immediately clear whether she had been released or if she had a lawyer. Roof’s parents did not respond to requests for comment.

The arrest of Roof took place as thousands of students at schools across the country participated in a walkout to protest gun violence, in honor of the 17 students and staff members who were shot to death last month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

While the Snapchat post was not cited as a reason for Roof’s arrest, Susan Childs, the principal of A.C. Flora High School, said in a letter to parents Wednesday that several events on campus had caused concern.

She said that the walkout at the school “went well with only a minor verbal disagreement,” but that an unloaded weapon had been recovered and was being investigated by law enforcement. She also said that a report of another weapon had been found to be inaccurate, and that a student had used social media “to post a hateful message.” She did not mention Roof by name.

“The posting was not a threat, but was extremely inappropriate,” Childs wrote. “That student was dealt with in a swift and severe manner as the posting caused quite a disruption.”

Childs could not be reached for further comment Thursday.

The sheriff’s department said that in a separate case, two 16-year-old students were arrested after a handgun was found on school grounds Tuesday.

Gov. Henry McMaster, said on Twitter Wednesday evening that “potential tragedy was avoided” at the school.

“In two separate incidents, students and educators reacted quickly to reports of suspicious activity and behavior to their Richland County Sheriff’s Department school resource officer,” he said.

McMaster, a Republican, had called the walkout a “shameful” political statement in a television appearance earlier on Wednesday. “It appears that these school children — innocent school children — are being used as a tool by this left-wing group to further their own agenda,” he said.

Dylann Roof killed the parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in June 2015. The avowed white supremacist opened fire during a Bible study gathering in a long-planned assault. He was found guilty in 2016 of all 33 federal counts against him and has been sentenced to death.