The man accused of carrying out a racially-charged attack at the historic Charleston Emanuel AME Church last year was punched by another inmate at a South Carolina jail on Thursday.
Dylann Roof, 22, was attacked after being let out of his cell to take a shower on Thursday morning, according to Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon.
It was then that fellow inmate Dwayne Stafford, who is African American, ran down a set of stairs to go after Roof and punched him “a number of times and assaulted him quickly,” Cannon said at a press conference. Cannon did not confirm whether or not the attack was motivated by race, according to AP.
Roof sustained minor bruising to his face and back but will not be pursuing charges against Stafford, who is in jail awaiting trial on strong-armed robbery and first-degree assault charges, the wire service also reported.
Officials are currently investigating how Stafford was able to get out of his cell to reach Roof, given that only one prisoner is allowed out at a time.
Cannon said that during the time of the attack, one detention officer assigned to the unit had been on a break while another had been called to deliver toilet paper to a different cell, AP reported.
Just like a similar incident involving Colorado movie theater mass shooter, James Holmes, the attack on Roof brought praise on Twitter with calls for donations to Stafford’s jail commissary account.
Dwayne Stafford about to be a thousandaire when he wakes up tomorrow. All the top ramen and honey buns he could ever want
— Rebecca (@rebeccaisdope) August 4, 2016
https://twitter.com/i_say_hella/status/761246197554089986
Can we set up a GoFundMe for the homie that beat Dylann Roof into a bloody mess. He deserves extra commissary and phone time.
— Anonymous (@DasherLogistics) August 4, 2016
https://twitter.com/angryblackhoemo/status/761348314709299200
Roof — who has been charged with 33 federal offenses — will face the death penalty for killing nine black parishioners in Charleston in June 2015.
But on Monday, his lawyers filed a legal challenge to the penalty on the basis that it was “arbitrary and cruel,” and that Roof would drop the challenge if federal prosecutors allowed him to plead guilty and receive a life sentence without parole. His trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 7.