A crowd of people hold hands as they meet atop the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge in Charleston, June 21, 2015. Reuters
A crowd of people hold hands as they meet atop the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge in Charleston, June 21, 2015. Reuters

 

Charleston, SC – Thousands of people marched across Charleston’s main bridge in a show of unity after nine black church parishioners were gunned down during a Bible study.

Crowds gathered on either side of the bridge around dusk and then met toward the middle of the span. Part of the bridge was closed as people were walking, chatting and taking pictures.

When the marchers from the Mount Pleasant side and the Charleston side met on the bridge, there was clapping and singing of “This Little Light of Mine.”

Also, On Sunday the wife and youngest daughter of a pastor who was fatally shot along with eight parishioners were inside the Charleston, South Carolina, church at the time of the shooting.

Jennifer Pinckney and her daughter were in the pastor’s study when the shooting happened Wednesday night, the Rev. Norvel Goff, interim pastor of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, told The Associated Press on Sunday night.

They locked the door, hid under the desk and called 911, Goff said.

“It was awful and horrible and unthinkable and evil,” he said.

Goff said he himself left the church 20 minutes before the Bible study began that night. He said he had been conducting a quarterly business conference with about 50 church leaders, including the Rev. Pinckney and his wife.

Rev. Norvel Goff prays at the empty seat of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 21, 2015. The church held its first service since a mass shooting left nine people dead during a bible study. REUTERS/David Goldman/Pool
Rev. Norvel Goff prays at the empty seat of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 21, 2015. The church held its first service since a mass shooting left nine people dead during a bible study. REUTERS/David Goldman/Pool

 

People walk in solidarity along the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge in Charleston, June 21, 2015, after the first service at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church since a mass shooting left nine people dead. Hundreds of people packed the sweltering Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston for an emotional memorial service on Sunday just days after a gunman, identified by authorities as Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, shot dead nine black church members. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
People walk in solidarity along the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge in Charleston, June 21, 2015, after the first service at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church since a mass shooting left nine people dead. Hundreds of people packed the sweltering Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston for an emotional memorial service on Sunday just days after a gunman, identified by authorities as Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, shot dead nine black church members. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

 

As reported by Vos Iz Neias