NBCNews.com:
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state Capitol Monday, less than a week after a 21-year-old white man gunned down nine people at a historic African American church.RELATED: Limbaugh on Confederate Flag: ‘When Did All This Become a Republican Problem?’
Support for the flag to come down from leaders around the state and around the country has been steadily growing in the wake of the devastating attack.
"Today, we are here in a moment of unity in our state, without ill will, to say it is time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds," Haley said during a news conference attended by Republican senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, along with other state leaders.
The announcement was met by applause and cheers from those in attendance.
The flag wasn't lowered to half-staff along with the other flags at the Statehouse after the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church Wednesday because doing so is under the authority of the state's General Assembly — and so is taking it down.
Authorities have said the shooting was a hate crime, and a white supremacist website that may be linked to the shooter, Dylann Roof, has images that apparently show him holding the Confederate battle flag.
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