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 Details about suspected gunman Dylann Roof's plot were revealed as
his childhood friend, Joseph Meek, 21, admitted during a hearing in
Charleston to concealing knowledge of the crime and lying to
authorities investigating the massacre.
Meek could be called to testify against Roof as part of an agreement
with prosecutors and may be spared the maximum sentence of eight
years in prison for cooperating.
"He told me the week before it happened, that he was going to
Charleston and do what he did," Meek said in court.
Meek, who is also white, is the only other person to be charged in
connection with the shootings, which sparked intense debate about
race relations and gun control laws in the United States.
He said Roof, 22, shared his plans to open fire during a June 17
Bible study at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal
Church in Charleston.
 Roof said he would conceal the pistol he planned to use in a fanny
pack and would take his own life afterward, according to Meek.
On the night of the shootings, Meek told others with him that he
knew Roof was to blame but instructed them not to call the police,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson said in court.
Meek later contacted investigators but for several days denied
previous knowledge of Roof's crime, the prosecutor said.
Meek's defense lawyer, Debbie Barbier, told reporters that he was
scared and shocked immediately after the shooting but now makes no
excuse for his conduct.
"He would like nothing better than for the families to forgive him,
but he certainly does not expect their forgiveness," she said.
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More than a dozen family members of the Emanuel victims and two
survivors of the shootings attended the hearing.
"I am miserable and I have suffered," Gary Washington, 54, said of
losing his mother, Ethel Lance. "Everything has fallen apart."
Roof faces 33 federal charges including hate crimes, obstruction of
religion and firearms offenses. Authorities have accused him of
holding white supremacist views, saying he targeted the victims
because of their race.
Defense lawyers have said Roof would plead guilty if he did not face
the possibility of execution. His federal trial has been repeatedly
delayed while U.S. prosecutors decide whether to seek the death
penalty.
State authorities are seeking the death penalty against Roof, who is
charged with nine counts of murder as well as attempting to murder
three people who survived the rampage, in a separate trial scheduled
to begin in January.
(Reporting by Harriet McLeod Writing by Letitia Stein and Colleen
Jenkins; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Paul Simao and James Dalgleish)
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