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On the evening of June 17, 2015, a mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Dylann Roof killed nine African-American people, including the senior pastor, Clementa C. Pinckney, a state senator. A number of scholars, journalists, activists, and politicians have emphasized the need to understand the attack in the broader context of racism in the United States, rather than seeing it as an isolated event of racially motivated violence.

At least eighteen prospective candidates for the 2016 U.S. presidential election expressed reactions through various media and addresses. According to NPR, Democrats and Republicans candidates found different ways to address the incident, with Democrats seeing race and gun control as central issues, while Republicans pointing to mental illness and referring to it as tragic but random act. Most Republican candidates, eventually acknowledged that race was a motivating factor for the shooting. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the shooting has become a precarious subjects for Republican presidential contenders, in particular in regard of the racial motivations behind it, as South Carolina holds primaries and the state's political importance have made some candidates "skirt(ing) around the clear racial motivations behind the attack".

Candidates remarks on the shooting
Jeb Bush, speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington on June 19, said that "I don't know what was on the mind or the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes", and called the shooting an "evil act of aggression". When asked by a reporter for the Huffington Post if the shooting was racially motivated, Bush said, "I don't know. Looks like to me it was, but we'll find out all the information. It's clear it was an act of raw hatred, for sure. Nine people lost their lives, and they were African American. You can judge what it is." That evening, Bush referred to Roof as "a racist".

Carly Fiorina said, "We ought not to start immediately rushing to policy prescriptions or engaging in the blame game."

Ben Carson said, "If we don't pay close attention to the hatred and the division that's going on in our nation, this is just a harbinger of what we can expect."

Hillary Clinton, speaking at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco, said that although it is "tempting" to isolate the shooting as a random event, "America's long struggle with race is far from finished", and argued that "race remains a deep fault line in America and millions of people of color still experience racism in their everyday lives." Clinton called for "common-sense" gun reforms, and a national acknowledgement with what she described as a persistent problem of "institutional racism."

Chris Christie said, "It's depraved, it's unthinkable. We can't put our minds around conduct like that, can we?"

Ted Cruz said, "[t]oday the body of Christ is in mourning. Christians across the nation, across the world, believers across the world, are lifting up the congregants at Emmanuel AME."

Lindsey Graham, who has served as the senior United States Senator from South Carolina since 2003, said in response to a question at CNN, "[r]eally, the last thing on my mind right now is a political debate. My job is to be here, and to show solidarity with my community and my state [...] I own a bunch of guns, and I haven't hurt anybody, but there is something wrong with the background system." Graham later amended his comments, calling Roof "a racial jihadist", saying that the only reason the victims where killed was their race. Graham initially assessed the incident by saying that "I just think he was one of these whacked-out kids. I don’t think it’s anything broader than that".

Martin O'Malley described himself as "pissed" in an email to supporters after the shooting, which he called an "unspeakable tragedy". "It's time we called this what it is: a national crisis," O'Malley added, calling for increased gun control measures and condemning the response from the National Rifle Association.

Rand Paul said, "[w]hat kind of person goes into a church and shoots nine people? There's a sickness in our country, but it's not going to be solved by our government."

Rick Perry said initially that the shooting was a "drug induced" accident, and later said that didn't know if it was "act of terror", but acknowledged that it was "a crime of hate".

Marco Rubio did not publicly comment on the events, but tweeted support for the victims.

Bernie Sanders described the shooting as an "an act of terror”, and in an email to supporters he wrote that "This hateful killing is a horrific reminder that, while we have made important progress in civil rights for all of our people, we are far from eradicating racism."

Rick Santorum called it an "obviously a hate crime", and that it was an assault "on religious liberty".

Donald Trump tweeted that the mass shooting was "incomprehensible."

Candidates remarks on the Confederate flag
Calls to remove the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds, as well as debates over the context of its symbolic nature, were renewed after the attack by several presidential candidates.

Jeb Bush did not explicitly called for the flag's removal bu said that South Carolina should "do the right thing".

Ted Cruz said that South Carolina doesn't need "people from outside of the state coming in and dictating how they should resolve it."

Lindsay Graham said that it is time to "revisit" the decision and called for its removal.

Mike Huckabee said that the question about the flag removal is not "an issue for someone running for president".

Rick Perry argued that the role of a governor is to unite people, and that the Confederate flag is on of the issues that divides people.

Marco Rubio said that he hoped the state would "make the right choice", but also said that that it's not up to "outsiders" to make that decision.

Rick Santorum argued that the decision should be left to the people of South Carolina.

Scott Walker, suggested that officials in South Carolina should have a "good healthy debate" on the issue.