Slain Pastor-Lawmaker Remembered as 'Brave Man of God'

The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor who was killed in Wednesday night's massacre at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, was remembered Thursday not only for his service to the church, but to the state of South Carolina as well: the slain minister served as a state senator since he was in his early 20s.

"I started in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2006 to 2014, and Sen. Pinckney was always there," State Sen. Bakari Sellers told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "We actually started in the same delegation. Our districts overlapped for a period of time."

Pinckney was not a man of many words, Sellers said, but the words he used were powerful ones.

"I chuckle when I think about his voice and how booming it was," said Sellers. "He was somebody who didn't always speak, but when he did, people listened. And even more importantly, he was a man of God."

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"So, you know, (he) went out serving his people. He went out serving his Lord," Sellers said. "And at the end of the day, may he rest in peace."

Pinckney's seat in the state Senate was draped in black cloth on Thursday.

State House Minority leader Todd Rutherford told The Associated Press that Pinckney, a fellow Democrat,  "never had anything bad to say about anybody, even when I thought he should. He was always out doing work either for his parishioners or his constituents. He touched everybody."

Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two who was elected to the state House at age 23, and was the youngest member elected at the time.

Sylvia Johnson, a cousin, told NBC News in an interview aired on the "Morning Joe" show, that the shooter, alleged to be Dylann Roof, 21, came into the church and sat next to the pastor, and had been in the church for over an hour before he opened fire.

"One of the survivors said that he reloaded five different times," Johnson said. "And her son was trying to talk him out of doing that act of killing people. And he just said 'I have to do it.' He said, 'You rape our women. And you're taking over our country. And you have to go.'"

As the Bible study concluded, the church members "just started hearing loud noises ringing out," she said. "And he had already wounded, the suspect had already wounded a couple of individuals including my cousin, Rev. Clementa Pinckney."

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who also spoke on "Morning Joe," said that he remembered meeting Pinckney when he was running for president in 2004.

"For he and eight people to be killed in a church, I mean, what is sacred if we can't go to Bible study in a church?" said Sharpton. "We've got to deal with these issues head on."

Sellers said that the shootings occurred while he was at a Democratic event for Hillary Clinton.

"I described it as being a day of so much joy, you know, being in the presence of former Secretary Clinton and just having that type of joy and hope brought to the state of South Carolina," he said.

"And then as I was leaving the city, you know, Twitter and my phone began to blow up. And that day of joy turned so much darkness in such a quick amount of time."

South Carolina State Sen. Marlon Kimpson told CNN's "New Day" program that Pinckney was a "giant legend" in his state.

"He was the moral part of the state Senate," Kimpson said. "When we would have difficult times and would be at an impasse discussing major pieces of legislation, it was Sen. Pinckney who brought a sense of calmness to the body so that we could collectively negotiate towards a successful end."

Kimpson said South Carolina's lawmakers are working on the state budget, so both the House and Senate were in session.

"But before the meeting ended, he indicated to me that he had a very important church meeting to attend in the state capital," Kimpson told CNN. "So I was aware he was at a meeting in Charleston and not in Columbia at the time of the shooting. When I learned around 9:30 from the chair of the county council, I immediately called Sen. Pinckney but there was no answer."

When he arrived at a victims' assistance center that was set up, Kimpson said he was able to have a brief conversation with Pinckney's wife and two daughters.

"We are asking the nation for prayer for the city of Charleston and for all the victims of this horrific tragedy," Kimpson said.

Kimpson said he has no idea why the Emanuel AME church, which was established in the early 1800s, was targeted.

"I'm hoping that law enforcement can bring this shooter to justice," he told CNN. "But I do believe this is a hate crime. Anyone of any race who goes into a church and commits this act has hate in his heart.

"We are resilient people in Charleston. We will rebound and move forward, but I think we have to collectively as a state embrace that there is not — we have to bring this forward to the legislative agenda. And when the suspect is captured, we need to feather out what was in his state of mind when he committed this horrific crime."

As a senator, Pinckney had most recently played a key role in passing a bill mandating that police officers wear body cameras, the Rev. Joseph Darby of Beaufort AME Church told MSNBC. The law was passed after the death of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was killed in North Charleston on April 4.

"He has sponsored progressive legislation, played a key role in us just getting body camera legislation passed," Darby told MSNBC. "He was a very caring and competent pastor and he was a very brave man. And brave men sometimes die very difficult deaths."

"It's still kind of hard to even believe at this point," Pastor Jerome Lewis told Savannah, Georgia, NBC affiliate WSAV-TV.

"He's been the leader, the pillar in this community for years," Lewis said. "You know, we all call on him, we all try to get him to be a part of whatever we're doing, and he's just been a person that spread himself all over this community."

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