Dylann Roof Reportedly Almost Didn't Go Through With Church Shooting Because 'Everyone Was So Nice To Him'

Charleston Shooter Reportedly Almost Didn't Commit Massacre Because 'Everyone Was So Nice To Him'
An evening view of the Emanuel AME Church June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. Dylann Storm Roof has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church Wednesday night. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
An evening view of the Emanuel AME Church June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina. Dylann Storm Roof has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church Wednesday night. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Dylann Roof, the man who was charged Friday with nine counts of murder in a mass killing in a historic black church in Charleston, reportedly almost didn't go through with the Wednesday night massacre.

Police said Roof "almost didn't go through with it because everyone was so nice to him," sources told NBC News.

The gunman reportedly spent about an hour inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church with the victims before the shooting.

Roof's roommate, Dalton Tyler, told ABC News that the 21-year-old had been "planning something like that for six months."

“I have to do it,” Roof reportedly said at the church, according to a woman who told NBC she spoke with a survivor. “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.”

Those killed in the massacre ranged in age from 26 to 87 and included longtime church members, grandmothers and a recent college graduate.

Ethel Lance

Charleston Church Shooting Victims

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