By Elliott Summey | June 17, 2015, was a night that changed Charleston’s history and landscape forever. Although it started as a normal weekday for most of us as we tended to our families, late meetings and dinner, it became anything but normal.

While at a local hospital visiting a family member who had a stroke less than 24 hours before, I received a phone call about the events that had just unfolded at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. What was said on that phone call would never explain the sights and sounds that our first responders and those on the scene heard and saw firsthand.