FACTS ABOUT THE CHURCH IN U.S. SHOOTING
* The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is in Charleston, a city of about 130,000 people in the southern US state of South Carolina
* It is the oldest church of that denomination in the southern US, according to the church website, and referred to as "Mother Emanuel"
* The church's origins lie in the late 18th-century Methodist movement in the area, as a church for black worshippers
* The wooden two-storey building that was built on the present site in 1872 was destroyed by an earthquake, and replaced by the current brick structure in 1891
* The pastor, one of those reported killed in the shooting, is Reverend Clementa Pinckney, 41, who is also a state senator
* He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1996, and was elected to the State Senate in 2000, at the age of 27, according to his online profile; his church profile describes him as the youngest African-American in South Carolina to be elected to the state legislature.
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