Clementa C. Pinckney

Pinckney was a senior pastor at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. in Charleston. On June 17, 2015, Pinckney was murdered by Dylann Roof in a racially motivated mass shooting at an evening Bible study at Pinckney's church. U.S. President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy at Pinckney's funeral nine days later.

Pinckney was among several South Carolina pastors to hold rallies after the shooting of Walter Scott in 2015, attracting some local controversy.

As a state senator, Pinckney pushed for laws to require police and other law enforcement officials to wear body cameras after Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, was shot eight times in the back by a police officer in North Charleston. In April 2015, Pinckney gave an impassioned speech on the topic at the South Carolina Senate, citing the fact that national news had come to North Charleston because of the video tape of the incident.

On the night of June 17, 2015, Pinckney was killed in the Charleston church shooting. He spent the earlier part of that day campaigning with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Charleston. That evening, he led a Bible study and prayer session at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where he was senior pastor. The shooter, Dylann Roof, specifically asked for Pinckney and later opened fire on the congregation, killing Pinckney and eight others. While the FBI investigated the mass shooting as a hate crime, many others considered the attack a racially motivated act of terrorism, and criticized law enforcement and the media for not labeling it as such.

On June 24, 2015, there was a public viewing of Pinckney's casket in the rotunda lobby of the State Capitol Senate Chamber where Pinckney served in the South Carolina legislature, and where his body lay in state. Public viewings were held at St. John AME Church in Ridgeland, South Carolina, and Mother Emanuel in Charleston, South Carolina. A funeral was held on June 26, 2015, at the College of Charleston in TD Arena, which was filled up to Maximum Capacity, necessitating a viewing center with a video feed at the Charleston Museum. President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Jill Biden, among many other politicians and public figures, attended the funeral, with Obama giving the eulogy. During the eulogy, Obama sang the opening stanza of "Amazing Grace". A recording of Obama's singing was later sampled in the Coldplay song "Kaleidoscope" from the album A Head Full of Dreams.

As a result of the shooting, in July 2015, the South Carolina Legislature enacted legislation to take down the Confederate flag flying in front of the South Carolina State House and move it to the Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. The shooter had previously posed in front of and posted images of a similar flag on his website. Pinckney's widow attended the session during the final vote to thank her husband's colleagues for their support.

In June 2015, the family of Pinckney established the Clementa C. Pinckney Foundation to support poor families in the South Carolina Lowcountry region. Jennifer Pinckney, his wife, Senator Gerald Malloy, who served with Pinckney in the Senate, and Reverend Kylon Jerome Middleton, Ph.D., Pinckney's best friend, established the foundation in Pinckney's honor to support educational, health, pastoral training, and charitable causes. In July 2015, Mother Emanuel, in response to anonymous donations of more than $3 million, established The Reverend Pinckney Scholarship Fund, which was created to support education scholarship for church members, victims of the shooting and their extended families. The initial fund was overseen by Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr, historian and educator Henry Louis Gates Jr and investment banker William M. Lewis Jr.

In August 2015, the Charleston County School District decided to name new Charleston County middle school Simmons-Pinckney Middle School, in honor of both Pinckney and blacksmith Philip Simmons.

Pinckney preached in Beaufort, Charleston, and Columbia. He became pastor of Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2010. As part of his work, Pinckney oversaw 17 churches in the area.

In 1999, Pinckney married Jennifer Pinckney (née Benjamin) in Augusta, Georgia. They met while he was at Allen University and she was at the University of South Carolina. The couple lived in Ridgeland, South Carolina with their two daughters, Eliana Yvette Pinckney and Malana Elise Pinckney. Pinckney was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Pinckney was named in honor of the baseball player Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates due to his mother's love of baseball. During his eulogy, multiple friends and family pronounced his first name as "Clemen-tay". Pinckney is the cousin of the businessman and conservative commentator Armstrong Williams.

Pinckney was first elected to the South Carolina General Assembly in 1996 at the age of 23, becoming the youngest African American elected as a South Carolina state legislator. He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives until being elected to the South Carolina Senate in 2000. Pinckney was a Democrat and was a member of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus. Pinckney represented Allendale, Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper Counties in South Carolina. At the time of his death, he was on the following Committees: Banking and Insurance, Corrections and Penology, Education, Finance, and Medical Affairs.

Pinckney went to Jasper County High School, where he was elected class president for two years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Allen University in 1995 and went on to obtain a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of South Carolina in 1999. He then received a Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. Pinckney was a student at Wesley Theological Seminary pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree at the time of his death.

Clementa Carlos "Clem" Pinckney (July 30, 1973 – June 17, 2015) was a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 45th District from 2000 until his death in 2015. He was previously a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1997 through 2000.

Clementa Carlos Pinckney was born on July 30, 1973 in Beaufort, South Carolina. His mother, Theopia Stevenson Aikens (née Brooms; 1945–2005), was an early childhood development educator, and his father, John Pinckney, was an auto mechanic. Pinckney had at least six brothers and sisters. He began preaching at his church at age 13 and, by age 18, he was appointed pastor.