Dylann Roof's Friend Was Arrested for Allegedly Concealing Information About the South Carolina Shooting

Before 21-year-old Dylann Roof shot nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, he was living in a trailer where chaos reigned and the only constants were the sounds of video-game gunfire and the steady flow of itinerant—and often troubled—guests.

Five people lived there permanently. One of them, Joseph "Joey" Meek, had known Roof since childhood, and when he asked for a place to sleep, he was offered a spot on the floor. The guest drank heavily, spoke about his belief in segregation, and boasted about needing to do "something crazy." The people hosting him once hid his gun before deciding he wasn't serious, as the Washington Post reported in an immersive.

But on June 17, the 21-year-old apparently acted on those words, driving two hours to the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, sitting quietly during Bible study, and then unloading his Glock into the crowd. His lawyers have indicated he's willing to plead guilty if it will spare him the death penalty for murder and federal hate crime charges, but local prosecutors seem determined to have him executed.

On Thursday, Meek, who is also 21, was arrested by FBI agents and charged with lying to federal officials, as well as with withholding information about a crime. He pleaded not guilty Friday, the Washington Post reports, but faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.

Meek was interviewed by an FBI agent the day after the shooting and said he did not know the specifics of Roof's plan. But according to the federal indictment, "Meek's statements and representations denying such specifics were false, fictitious, and fraudulent when made."

Back in June, Meek spoke to several reporters about the time he spent living with Roof. "He wanted to do something big, like the Trayvon Martin case," he told the New York Daily News, referring to the unarmed black teen who was shot by George Zimmerman in 2012. "He said blacks were taking over the world. Someone needed to do something about it for the white race," Meek told the Associated Press.

The FBI declined to comment on the case.

"He don't think he did anything wrong," Meek's girlfriend Lindsey Fry, who spoke to him on the phone as he was being approached by federal agents at his job Thursday, told the Washington Post. "I don't really have anything to say about it."

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Meek Indictment