Dylann Roof’s father, Franklin Bennett, gets to spend his Father’s Day fielding off death threat calls because of his son’s actions killing nine members of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. The man, who has been reported as being an extremely abusive husband and father, has contacted authorities saying he is fearing for his life as he’s being harrassed and threatened. In my experience, abusers never take the behavior they have dished out for years very easily.
“The victim states that individuals claiming to be with the Black Panther Party have called several times and left messages stating, ‘I’m coming to see you real soon, buddy boy,'” records say.
“The victim states that another individual claiming to be from the Nation of Islam called and stated that they wanted to interview him and make sure his whole family was there. The victim states he believes that these phone calls are implied threats.”
On Friday, the same day Franklin Roof told cops he was being threatened, he released a statement to the media expressing “shock, grief and disbelief” over his son’s arrest for the Wednesday massacre at a bible study group at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
Franklin Roof told police the calls have kept him from using his cellphone.
“The victim states that whenever his phone is turned on, that he is constantly receiving calls from restricted numbers that are making harassing comments with implied threats to harm, with the intent to intimidate him and his family,” police records say.
“He has to keep his cellphone turned off in order to stop the calls from coming in. The victim is concerned for his safety as well as his family safety.”
Police have been sitting in cars outside Franklin Roof’s home since after the shooting.
Court papers that have come to light are showing that during his 10-year marriage to Dylann Roof’s step mother Paige Mann, he was both physically and verbally abusive as reported by the Mail. She stepped forward on Friday to let it be known that some of the blame for Roof’s actions were to be laid on her ex-husbands shoulders.
“He controlled my whereabouts, the checkbook and everything about my life,” she said in an interview.
He threatened that he was “cutting off the electricity and taking my car,” she added.
“On September 20, 2008 my whole world fell apart when Benn and I got into an argument. Benn violently pushed me to the ground and hit me in the back of my head,” she said.
The two divorced in 2009 — and Dylann, then 15, was left with his indifferent father.
Dylann Roof soon quit school altogether, family said, preferring to drift between video games and drugs.