FBI: Church gunman shouldn't have been able to get gun

"Highly improbable events" allowed purchase

In this June 18 file photo, Charleston, S.C., shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof, center, is escorted from the Sheby Police Department in Shelby, N.C. FBI director James Comey says Roof, the gunman in the Charleston church massacre should not have been allowed to purchase the gun used in the attack, and on July 10 attributed the problem to incomplete and inaccurate paperwork related to an arrest of Roof weeks before the shooting. - photo by Associated Press

FBI Charleston Shooti Ledb — In this June 18 file photo, Charleston, S.C., shooting suspect Dylann Storm Roof, center, is escorted from the Sheby Police Department in Shelby, N.C. FBI director James Comey says Roof, the gunman in the Charleston church massacre should not have been allowed to purchase the gun used in the attack, and on July 10 attributed the problem to incomplete and inaccurate paperwork related to an arrest of Roof weeks before the shooting. - photo by Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The gunman charged in the Charleston, South Carolina, church massacre should not have been allowed to purchase the weapon used in the attack, FBI Director James Comey said Friday as he outlined a series of "heartbreaking" missed opportunities and background check flaws that allowed the transaction to take place. "We are all sick that this has happened," Comey told reporters at an unusual, hastily scheduled meeting at FBI headquarters. "We wish we could turn back time, because from this vantage point, everything seems obvious.

Associated Press

Associated Press