Whether or not mental illness played a role in Dylann Roof's decision to shoot and kill the nine individuals at the church in Charleston, South Carolina, psychologist Dr. Terry Lyles says that it is definitely a hate crime.
"That's the question everyone's asking and it's really hard to ascertain that because we don't know his motive," Lyles told J.D. Hayworth on "Newsmax Now" on
Newsmax TV Tuesday.
Story continues below video.
Watch Newsmax TV on
DIRECTV Ch. 349,
DISH Ch. 223 and
Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system –
Click Here Now
"There's enough artifacts around to say it was definitely a hate crime, as we would say, and that's a broad term, for it could be racial. There could be overtones of that," he explained.
"Did he have a psychotic episode?" he asked. "It's very odd that a person could sit in a church with people there worshiping for a period of time, like an hour, and then open fire on them."
According to Lyles, while love is very powerful, "hate is strong as well. Regardless of what his entire motivation was, they were obviously trying to love him and work with him, but whatever motivated him to the point of doing this, he was at a point of no return."
The psychologist explained that it's possible for the mind to get to a place that it becomes anesthetized and numb, which he says is "a very dangerous state to be."
Lyles contends that that's "obviously" where Roof arrived.
"He was there. What drove him there? We don't know," he added. "The end result was, it was tragedy."
Related Stories:
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.