Rev. Clementa Pinckney's Call To Preach Came Early

Jeffrey Collins / AP

The call to preach came early for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was one of the nine victims fatally shot Wednesday night when a gunman opened fire inside the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Pinckney received his first appointment to pastor when he was 18 years old, according to the church's website. By age 23 he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. Four years later, he was elected to the state Senate.

Pinckney, 41, was born in 1973 in Jasper County, South Carolina. Four generations of AME pastors are on his mother's side of the family. He attended Allen University, where he received a degree in business administration. While in college he served as freshman class president, student body president, and senior class president, according to AME’s website. He received a master’s degree in public administration from the University of South Carolina.

Following the death of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man shot by a police officer in April, Pinckney worked to pass a bill mandating all officers wear body cameras, Rev. Joseph Darby of Beaufort AME Church told NBC News.

“He has sponsored progressive legislation, played a key role in us just getting body camera legislation passed,” Darby told MSNBC. “He was a very caring and competent pastor and he was a very brave man. And brave men sometimes die very difficult deaths.”

Rev. Al Sharpton, who worked with Pinckney following Scott’s death, released a statement saying, “It is chilling to me that just over two months ago while I was in North Charleston over the police shooting of Walter Scott, I’m reminded that Rev. Pinckney was among the clergy who stood with me at that occasion and now he has fallen victim to senseless violence.”

Pinckney's seat in the statehouse was covered in black cloth on Thursday.

"I always felt God had called me to serve within the church because of what the church stands for," Pinckney told the Post and Courier in 2010. "This has always been home."

He is survived by his wife Jennifer and his two children Eliana and Malana.

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