CHARLESTON, S.C. — Joey Meek, friend of accused racial killer Dylann Roof, admitted Friday in federal court that he knew details about Roof’s plan to kill black people at a Charleston church a full week before last June’s execution-style killing of nine parishioners.
Meek, 21, of Red Bank made the admission to U.S. Judge Richard Gergel during his guilty plea hearing Friday afternoon in Charleston.
Under questioning by Gergel, Meek said Roof planned the shooting for six months. Meek also admitted that he knew many details of the plan a week before the shooting.
Those details included that Roof scouted Mother Emanuel AME Church where the killings happened during a Wednesday night Bible study, that he was going to kill as many people as possible and that he was going to start a race war because “no one else would do it.”
Meek also admitted that when he heard the reports on television the night of June 17, he told four friends who the shooter was. Later, he told them not to talk to police.
When Meek was questioned by the FBI after the killings, he denied knowing about the killings in advance. Roof, an avowed white supremacist from Columbia, stayed at Meek’s mobile home in the Red Bank area of Lexington County before the killings June 17.
After the hearing, Meek’s court-appointed lawyer, Debbie Barbier of Columbia, spoke briefly with media outside the courthouse.
“Joey Meek is young. He has a very limited education,” Barbier said. “When these unspeakable acts were committed, Joey was scared and he was in shock. Today, Mr. Meek makes no excuses for his conduct. He stood in the courtroom today and was fully accountable for his actions.”
Barbier also said Meek “lives each day of his life with a great deal of sorrow and regret.”