The Latest: Sheriff: Roof not pressing charges for assault

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Latest on a jailhouse assault on the suspect charged with killing nine people at a South Carolina church (all times local):

2:20 p.m.

Officials are investigating how an inmate managed to assault Dylann Roof, the white man charged with killing nine black parishioners at a Charleston church.

Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon told reporters Thursday it happened when a black inmate in a high-security unit managed to get through a cell door to reach Roof.

Officials said earlier that 26-year-old Dwayne Stafford would face assault charges.

But Cannon says Roof and his attorneys don’t want to press charges. The two detention officers assigned to the unit are being interviewed. Officials also are looking into the possibility of an electronic malfunction.

Cannon says this was the first incident with Roof since he was jailed last June.

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1:10 p.m.

A police report says a black inmate ran from his cell and down stairs to attack the white man charged with killing nine people in what police said was a racially motivated shooting at a Charleston church.

The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office report said 21-year-old Dylann Roof was in the shower when he was beaten around 7:45 a.m. Thursday at the Charleston County jail.

Deputies say 26-year-old Dwayne Stafford hit Roof in the head and body with his hands, leaving Roof with bruises. Authorities say Roof was examined by medical personnel and sent back to his cell.

Stafford is in jail awaiting trial on charges of first-degree assault and strong arm robbery.

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12:15 p.m.

Deputies say Dylann Roof, charged in the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners at a Charleston church, has been assaulted by another inmate at the South Carolina jail where he is being held.

Charleston County Sheriff’s Maj. Eric Watson tells The Associated Press that the assault occurred outside Roof’s cell Thursday morning.

Watson says the other inmate used his hands, no other weapons, and that the 22-year-old Roof was examined by jail medical personnel and then returned to his cell. The other inmate faces assault charges.

Sheriff Al Cannon is holding an early afternoon news conference to discuss the assault.

Roof has been housed at the Charleston County Detention Center since being brought back from North Carolina a day after the June 17, 2015 shootings at Emanuel AME Church.