Charleston daily sticks gun ad on front page after shooting
Just a day after a man gunned down nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, a local paper made the grave mistake of sticking a gun store advertisement on its front page.
The advertisement to promote the store's ladies night was attached above the headline of The Post and Courier's report on the Wednesday (July 17) shooting.
It drew flak from angry readers who took to social media to criticise the paper for the advertisement which they felt was ill-timed.
In response to a Facebook user's post, The Post and Courier explained that it was a coincidence and apologised to those might who have taken offence.
"The front-page sticky note that was attached to some home delivery newspapers on the same day as this tragedy is a deeply regrettable coincidence," the comment read.
"We apologise to those who were offended."
In an interview with Mail Online, a spokesman for the gun store, ATP Gun Store and Range, lamented the "terrible timing", but explained that the store "had no control over it" as advertisements are planned weeks in advance.
A 21-year-old man named Dylann Roof (below) was arrested in North Carolina and subsequently flown back to Charleston, South Carolina.
The violent rampage which took place in Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the oldest black churches in the US, is believed to have been a hate crime.
The gunman didn't stop shooting even when one of the victims tried to reason with him.
She told CNN: “He said ‘No, you’ve raped our women and you’re taking over the country. I have to do what I have to do'."
Source: Mail Online
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