Clementa Carlos Pinckney was a 41-year-old state senator and the senior pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. On the evening of June 17, 2015, he was leading a Bible study in the historic church when a man who had been welcomed into the group opened fire. Pinckney was one of nine people killed in what is described as a racially motivated attack on the congregation.

The shooter fled and was captured the next morning in Shelby, North Carolina, after a citizen’s tip during a traffic stop. He reportedly confessed, saying he had targeted Emanuel AME because of its significance to the Black community and that his motive was to ignite a race war; investigations found he held white supremacist beliefs. He faced charges at both federal and state levels, was convicted on federal counts in December 2016, and received a death sentence in January 2017; in April 2017 he pleaded guilty to state murder charges and was given nine consecutive life sentences without parole.