Dwayne Stafford is enjoying temporary housing and donated clothing, food, and cash after being released from jail where he assaulted 22-year-old Charleston shooter Dylann Roof earlier this month.
The 25-year-old told NBC that he assaulted Roof—who gunned down nine black people holding a Bible study at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church last June—after the white supremacist started blabbing about starting a race war and insulted Stafford’s late father.
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“I wasn’t even in the mindset of violence,” the former inmate told NBC. “I was more like damn, that could’ve been my people. No, they were my people. I just didn’t understand how he could do that… Pure evil.”
Stafford—a black inmate who had been arrested on robbery and assault charges—said he waited until Roof was alone and unguarded in the shower before escaping his cell and laying into Roof.
“He tried [to fight back], but, nah,” Stafford said. “I beat Dylann Roof’s ass.”
Supporters reportedly sent money to Stafford’s commissary following news of the incident. An attorney, Marvin Pendarvis, also jumped onboard to represent Stafford. According to Pendarvis, a sympathetic bail bondsman posted Stafford’s $100,000 bail to help him get out, and a crowdfunding initiative helped raise money to pay the bondsman back.
Roof and his lawyers have decided not to press charges against Stafford, and the killer will remain in county jail awaiting his trial where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for last year’s racially charged killing spree.
Read: What Racist Skinheads in Prison Think About Dylann Roof
