On June 18 , professor and terrorism expert Brian Phillips offered his definition of terrorism and said , " ... T he massacre in Charleston , S.C. Wednesday was clearly a terrorist act . " He based this conclusion on a racist political motivation that " seems likely " and his " intimidation of a wider audience " criterion was met when " ... the shooter reportedly left one person alive to spread the message . " An article by CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen and David Sterman on June 19 says , " By any reasonable standard , this is terrorism , which is generally defined as an act of violence against civilians by individuals or organizations for political purposes . ... D eadly acts of terrorism by virulent racists and anti-government extremists have been more common in the United States than deadly acts of jihadist terrorism since 9/11 . " Some publications and their analyses of the event said these naming discrepancies reflect either forms of denial or outright racism . The journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote that Speaking on June 19 at a press conference in Baltimore , FBI Director James Comey said , while his agency was investigating the shooting as a " hate crime " , he did not consider it an " act of terrorism " , citing the lack of political motivation for the suspect 's actions . He said , " Terrorism is act of violence done or threatened in order to try to influence a public body or citizenry , so it 's more of a political act , and again , based on what I know , I do n't see this as a political act . Does n't make it any less horrific , but terrorism has a definition under federal law . " Heidi Beirich , who leads the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center ( SPLC ) , pointed to the discovery of a website attributed to Roof , which featured a manifesto and sixty photos as an example of why federal agents " do n't have themselves together on this issue " . The website began circulating on the Internet on June 20 . Beirich said , " The way they found the website was that someone ran a domain tool reverse search on this guy 's name ... It was n't rocket science , but where were the feds ? " On June 24 , FBI spokesman Paul Bresson left open the possibility of terrorism charges , saying , " Any eventual federal charges will be determined by the facts at the conclusion of the investigation , and are not influenced by how the investigation is initially opened . " Ultimately , it is up to Department of Justice prosecutors to decide what federal charges to bring . A spokesperson for Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the Department of Justice was investigating the shooting as both " a hate crime and as an act of domestic terrorism . " The infamy of Dylann Roof killing 9 blacks at the Emanual African Episcopal Methodist Church in Charleston , South Carolina has inspired imitators to plot similar attacks . Benjamin Thomas Samuel McDowell was arrested for unlawful firearm possession , in a plan to shoot up the Temple Emanu-El synagogue in Myrtle Beach , South Carolina , while Elizabeth Lecron and Vincent Armstrong was arrested for a plan to use explosives for " upscale mass murder " in Toledo , Ohio , having previously corresponded with Roof himself
9/11
September 11 attacks
Charleston church shooting