The shootings at the historic Emanuel AME Church are "out of character" for the Charleston, S.C., area, Rep. Mark Sanford said Thursday, telling CNN that he's left with a sense of "shock, disbelief, and incredible sorrow, and frankly a real sense of quandary."
"I don't understand," the Republican lawmaker and former South Carolina governor said on CNN's "New Day" show. "This doesn't make any sense to me."
Sanford said he knew the church's pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was killed in the shootings that left two other men and six women dead after a Wednesday night Bible study at
the historic church, whose congregation dates back to 1816.
"You want to talk about somebody who lived and walked this notion of faith, he did," said Sanford. "I cannot say enough good things about Clementa. He was a remarkable human being.
"He had a gravelly deep voice, a radio announcer's voice, if you will. And he approached life with that same level of gravitas. Just very serious, very thoughtful. An incredibly considerate and warm human being," Sanford said. "He served South Carolina. I think it was a real honor he would pastor at this church, given its historical significance in Charleston."
Sanford said he was not aware, either as a governor or congressman, of concerns about threats against churches in his state. Rather, he said that Wednesday night's shootings, which have been called a hate crime, are "so out of place."
"That's why people are shocked," he said. "They're in disbelief. I think that Mayor [Joseph] Riley said it well this morning. I think that Chief [Gregory] Mullen said it well. I think a whole host of community leaders have said it well. This is out of character for Charleston, South Carolina. You're left in disbelief."
But despite the shootings, which are being blamed on a young white man said to have arrived at the church and stayed for an hour before opening fire, Sanford said he does not agree that there is a lack of racial harmony in his state.
"We come from a strained past based on slavery existing in our state, as it did in other colonies," said Sanford, "and that's a regretful past. But ultimately, past is past. I think there are a lot of people — black, white and other in [the] community — working to make things work
"If you look in Charleston, if you look in Charleston county, the state as a whole, there are a lot of people working daily with friends that they work with, friends that they know, friends that they worship with, toward better race relations in our state and, as a consequence, in the region."
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Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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