Background check mix-up allowed Charleston shooter to buy gun: FBI

The Charleston shooting suspect should not have been allowed to buy a gun, but the 21-year-old charged in a church shooting rampage was able to purchase one in April because of a mix-up in his background check, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said on Friday.

The examiner of Dylann Roof's federal background check did not see a police report in which Roof admitted to drug possession, which would have barred him from buying the weapon, Comey said.

Roof, a 21-year-old white man linked to racist views, is charged in the June 17 shooting rampage at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine black people were killed.