Dylann Roof attacked next to jail shower

Dylann Roof, who faces murder charges in the killing of nine black parishioners at a Charleston, S.C., church, was attacked Thursday morning outside a detention center shower by a fellow inmate who bolted from an unlocked cell, according to Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon Jr.

Roof, 22, was bruised in the face and back but not seriously injured, according to jail officials. No weapons were involved.

The sheriff told reporters that Roof and his attorney did not want to press charges against the attacker, identified as 25-year-old Dwayne Stafford.

Stafford, who is black, has been in the jail since January on charges of armed robbery and assault and battery, including attacking a police officer.

Cannon said there was no concrete indication that the attack was racially motivated "beyond the obvious speculation that we would all have given the nature of the situation."

Roof, before the June 17, 2015, shooting at Emanuel AME church, had written on social media that he hoped the killings would provoke a race war. He was photographed with a Confederate flags and expressed admiration for white supremacists and Nazism. He was arrested in North Carolina one day after the shootings.

Cannon blamed Thursday's incident on  "complacency" by the two jail guards and said he did not believe there had been any coordination of events.

The sheriff said inmates are normally brought to the shower one at a time while other inmates remain locked in their cells. Stafford's cell, however, was not locked and he was able to run down a flight of stairs and attack Roof as he was about to step into the shower.

In addition, one of the guard's had taken a break moments before and the second guard was delivering toilet paper to another inmate.

Cannon said the second guard quickly responded, pulling Stafford off of Roof, who was in a "defensive crouch."

He said the procedures put in place to protect guards as well as inmates had not been followed.

"This serves as a wake up call for all concerned, " he said.

He also said it was not clear why Stafford's cell door was unlocked and that an investigation would look into whether there had been an electronic malfunction.