[Breaking news update at 9:55 a.m.]
Joey Meek, the friend of accused Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, has been indicted on charges of concealing information related to the shootings and of making false statements to the FBI, including withholding details of Roof’s plan, according to court documents unsealed Friday.
[Previous story, posted at 9:44 a.m.]
Accused Charleston shooter Dylann Roof’s friend due in court on charges
(CNN) — Joey Meek, a friend of accused Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday — a day after federal agents arrested him on as-yet unrevealed charges.
A sealed indictment was filed Tuesday against Meek, according to court records.
Since the deadly June shooting at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, authorities have been investigating Meek for allegedly knowing about the crime and not telling authorities, a law enforcement official said.
In the days after the shooting, Meek spoke with reporters with CNN and other media outlets, recounting how Roof had drunkenly vowed one night “to do something crazy.”
Meek said he hid Roof’s gun that night but put it back the next day.
“I didn’t take him serious,’ he said.
After hearing the description of the suspect in the Charleston church shooting, Meek told CNN he called the FBI the next morning, giving authorities detailed descriptions of what Roof was wearing and the license plate on his car.
Church massacre
Nine people died in the June 17 Bible study massacre, including the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who also was a state senator.
Police captured Roof in North Carolina the day after the attack and brought him back to South Carolina. He admitted to the killings, police said.
If convicted, Roof, 21, could face the death penalty.
Friend said shooting could have been stopped
Meek told CNN shortly after the shooting that he had been friends with Roof in middle school. They’d lost touch a few years ago but reconnected in recent months, Meek said, adding that there were things about Roof’s recent behavior that scared him.
Roof said he wanted to have “a race war,” according to Meek, and once asked his friend to videotape him burning an American flag.
“I’m sorry this all happened to everybody,” Meek said in June. “And it could have been prevented if people would have taken him serious. But Dylann wasn’t a serious person, and no one took him serious.”