Nine people were killed in a deadly shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina yesterday. Shaun King, a Justice columnist at the Daily Kos, was the first person to identify the suspect.
At 3:02 am, the Charleston city police released photos on Twitter and other news outlets of the suspect from surveillance video, asking for the public's help to identify the suspect:
Anyone with information about this incident call 1-800-CALL-FBI. pic.twitter.com/EidJGhNEDp
- City of Charleston (@CityCharleston) June 18, 2015
At 6:28 am EST, the FBI released the same photos on Twitter and other news outlets of the suspect from surveillance video, but had yet to identify the shooter.
At 6:53 am EST, King tweeted, "I believe this is him."
I just found this. I believe this is him. DYLANN STORM ROOF. pic.twitter.com/F15RZnZitw
- Shaun King (@ShaunKing) June 18, 2015
King's Twitter followers chimed in and linked to the suspect Dylann Roof's Facebook page and his arrest record. The FBI didn't respond until 10:15 am, according to various news outlets-more than three hours after King identified Roof.
All of Twitter, even @CNN's twitter accounts are MILES AHEAD of what's being reported on CNN on air about #CharlestonShooting. THIS IS NUTS.
- Nina L. Diamond (@ninatypewriter) June 18, 2015
While the early reporting on Twitter has been off on other incidents such as the Boston Marathon bombing, this time the social network followers got it right.
Update: CBS News is now on the air reporting that an arrest has been made. http://pic.twitter.com/7PaYluJGnG