FBI Arrests Friend Who Had Sheltered Dylann Roof Before Charleston Massacre
By Elahe Izadi, Adam Goldman and Jeremy Borden
September 17 at 6:52 PM
Joey Meek, the friend who gave a home to Dylann Roof in the weeks before the Charleston, S.C., church shooting, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.
Meek is expected to be arraigned early Friday in Columbia, the state capital. According to a letter Meek received in August from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbia, he is under investigation in connection with the church shooting. The letter mentioned two possible charges: making false statements to federal officials, and “misprision of a felony,” a charge meaning he concealed knowledge about a crime.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Meek’s girlfriend, Lindsey Fry, said Meek was picked up at work Thursday afternoon but that she did not know what the charge or charges were.
“He don’t think he did anything wrong,” Fry said by phone. “I don’t really have anything to say about it.
“I mean, we knew it was going to happen,” she said referring to the arrest, “but we don’t understand why it was happening.”
In the weeks before Roof allegedly gunned down black worshipers inside Emanuel AME Church, he slept on the floor of a Lexington County trailer that also housed Meek, 21. Meek’s two brothers, mother, and Fry also live in the trailer; The Washington Post profiled the family on Sunday.
Meek’s mother, Kim Konzny, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The shooting in June sparked a massive manhunt for the gunman. Meek told The Washington Post that he feared Roof was the suspect when news of the shooting first broke, and that he called police once he saw the surveillance footage on television the following morning. He said that FBI agents subsequently questioned him about what Roof had told him, and his own possible involvement. Fry also said that she was questioned.
Meek was a childhood friend of Roof’s, who had asked for a place to stay. In the days before the shooting, Roof said he was going to “do something crazy,” Meek told The Post, so Fry and Meek hid Roof’s gun. They later returned it, believing it was a drunken episode. “I didn’t take him seriously,” Meek told The Post.
An FBI spokeswoman in Columbia didn’t immediately return a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice declined to comment.
September 17 at 6:52 PM
Joey Meek, the friend who gave a home to Dylann Roof in the weeks before the Charleston, S.C., church shooting, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.
Meek is expected to be arraigned early Friday in Columbia, the state capital. According to a letter Meek received in August from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Columbia, he is under investigation in connection with the church shooting. The letter mentioned two possible charges: making false statements to federal officials, and “misprision of a felony,” a charge meaning he concealed knowledge about a crime.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Meek’s girlfriend, Lindsey Fry, said Meek was picked up at work Thursday afternoon but that she did not know what the charge or charges were.
“He don’t think he did anything wrong,” Fry said by phone. “I don’t really have anything to say about it.
“I mean, we knew it was going to happen,” she said referring to the arrest, “but we don’t understand why it was happening.”
In the weeks before Roof allegedly gunned down black worshipers inside Emanuel AME Church, he slept on the floor of a Lexington County trailer that also housed Meek, 21. Meek’s two brothers, mother, and Fry also live in the trailer; The Washington Post profiled the family on Sunday.
Meek’s mother, Kim Konzny, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The shooting in June sparked a massive manhunt for the gunman. Meek told The Washington Post that he feared Roof was the suspect when news of the shooting first broke, and that he called police once he saw the surveillance footage on television the following morning. He said that FBI agents subsequently questioned him about what Roof had told him, and his own possible involvement. Fry also said that she was questioned.
Meek was a childhood friend of Roof’s, who had asked for a place to stay. In the days before the shooting, Roof said he was going to “do something crazy,” Meek told The Post, so Fry and Meek hid Roof’s gun. They later returned it, believing it was a drunken episode. “I didn’t take him seriously,” Meek told The Post.
An FBI spokeswoman in Columbia didn’t immediately return a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice declined to comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment