this is "nightline." >> tonight, as charleston struggles to unite in the wake of tragedy, accused mass murderer dylann roof faces the families who lost loved ones in the church massacre. >> we have no room for hate. >> their words for this alleged killer tonight. a band of brothers shut in from the world their entire lives by a controlling father. with little to do besides watch movies like "taxi driver." >> movies taught us how to speak to one another. >> the incredible story of the wolfpack. how they finally escaped their makeshift prison met their hero, and became stars themselves. father's day surprise. these little ones all have dads serving abroad. >> he's very brave. >> he has good jokes. >> and want them to know how

much they're loved. the twist? michael strahan was a military kid too. he has something up his sleeve this holiday weekend. but first, the "nightline 5." >> how do crest 3d whitestrips compare to a whitening toothpaste? >> the white strips made a huge difference. >> crest whitestrips work below the enamel to whiten 20 times better than the leading toothpaste. it's macy's biggest one-day sale saturday. get an extra $20 off when you spend $50 on select merchandise with your savings pass until 2:00 p.m. earn double plenty points during macy's one-day sale. >> number one in just 60 seconds.

good evening. thank you for joining us. today we heard from the family of accused mass murderer dylann roof. in a written statement offering their condolences to those who lost loved ones in wednesday's massacre. we're also hearing from those families, still reeling of course and yet proving they're not just relatives of victims, they're people of deep and abiding faith. in the aftermath of the tragedy in charleston. >> this is the case of state versus dylann roof -- >> reporter: the irony was palpable. this baby-faced polite southern man -- >> you're unemployed at this time? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: accused of the most heinous of crimes. >> mr. roof, you're charged with nine counts of murder one count of possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime -- >> reporter: facing on a video link the people whose loved ones he allegedly stole. >> you took something very precious away from me. for me i'm a work in progress

and i acknowledge that i am very angry. >> every fiber in my body hurts. and i'll never be the same. >> reporter: the relatives all off-camera all on point. faith, love forgiveness. >> you hurt a lot of people. but god forgives you and i forgive you. >> i forgive you, my family forgive you. >> we are the family that love built. we have no room for hate. so we have to forgive. >> reporter: it was what none of us expected. but what all of us hope we're capable of. even felicia sanders, mother to one of the victims who survived the shooting herself by playing dead. >> we welcomed you wednesday night in our bible study with open arms. you have killed some of the most

beautifulest people that i know. that juanwaun that juan intra reserve tywanza sanders is my son. tywanza was my hero. but as we said in bible study, we enjoyed you. but may god have mercy on you. >> reporter: outside the court the daughter of ethel lance addressing the question so many of us were wondering. >> the last family that's going to be okay. and that's all i have to say. >> how do you express forgiveness in there? >> i'm a christian woman. i believe in god. >> reporter: this opportunity to forgive in court made possible by the most unlikely of detectives. a florist in north carolina. >> something just kept telling me you need -- there's something about that car. >> reporter: debbie dills says she spotted a car she recognized from the news coverage of

wednesday night's massacre. she ended up following him for 30 miles, relaying his license plate and location to police. >> just something about it. it had to be the lord. i was afraid i was scared i'm not trying to be heroic here or anything. i was afraid. because i didn't know what he might do because look what he'd already done. >> reporter: roof had been on the run for more than 12 hours, driving 250 miles from charleston to shelby after police say he gunned down nine people at historic mother emanuel ame church late wednesday. in the warrant released by authorities, new details about the shooting. all victims were hit multiple times. roof is described as acting with malice and aforethought. standing over a witness, one of the survivors, and uttering a racially inflammatory statement. >> it seems the defense is in a really tough position. sure looks like there's a lot of evidence against him. the interesting question is going to be what if he said i'll plead guilty but you've got to take the death penalty off

the table. in many many cases, prosecutors would accept that. in this case? i think they probably won't. >> reporter: with him now in custody, much of the conversation today turning to a search for an explanation, meaning. what triggered roof? was it hate terror mental illness? >> it sure seems like he knew exactly what he was doing. and he was doing it because he wanted to kill people. because he hated them. >> reporter: one clue this photo. flag patches from roof's jacket. one from apartheid-era south africa the other from the former rhodesia when it was ruled by a white minority, now called zimbabwe. >> this was not merely a mass shooting, not merely a matter of gun violence. this was a racial hate crime and must be confronted as such. >> reporter: but another flag front and center today -- >> certainly symbolically we cannot have the confederate flag waving in the state capitol.

>> reporter: it is an old and bitter debate in south carolina. and as we were reminded today, passion on both sides. >> being a relative of robert e. lee, i think it's part of our history. maybe it shouldn't be forefront and center in front of the statehouse. but i think that it's still something that people need to see and remember that happened. >> i see a sign of hate to really tell you the truth. hate and prejudice. i actually think they should take it down. >> it's just a flag. i understand some people have symbolism behind it. but there's symbolism behind lots of things. honestly it doesn't bother me. >> reporter: those who know him say roof's alleged plan was six months in the making. this friend telling me colleague roof had a deep hatred for african-americans. >> what did he want to see happen? >> he wanted something big like trayvon martin. he wanted to make something spark up the race war again. >> reporter: meek and his mother kim saw roof tuesday. they say he always had a gun with him. >> what kind of guns did he

have? >> .45 glock. >> did he carry it around? >> in his car. >> reporter: on this day of pain and irony, an unexpected word from the unlikeliest friend of an accused mass murderer with a reported hatred of black people. >> he had a small group of select friends. i was one of them. i'm obviously of color. >> reporter: caleb brown says he and roof were childhood friends. whatever road led roof to a black church with a loaded gun, brown says his life didn't start that way. >> it makes absolutely no sense at all. and that's why i'd say i still can't even really fathom that it was him that committed all of those heinous crimes. ♪ oh the saints of god ♪ >> reporter: no matter who or what dylann roof was or is, he was not the focus of those who prayed and cried in charleston

this evening. tonight the largest visible jill so far for the nine who died. >> a hateful, deranged young man took their lives. >> reporter: roof allegedly wanted to start a race war. it wa appear what he sparked was a revival. a reaffirmation of a nation's promise, not its problems. and next the wolfpack. these brothers survived being shut away for years by watching thousands of movies. and bringing them to life inside their tiny confines. little did they know they're about to meet one of their heroes. what happened when michael strahan planned a father's day surprise for military families? but here's the thing, about half of men over 40 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection.

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you're about to meet a band of brothers who share a strange bond. for over a decade they rarely left their tiny ra part. their father controlling everything they did. their mother also trapped inside. tonight, abc's elizabeth vargas brings us a story of resilience and hope as they reveal how they created a rich life between those walls and the risky move that set them on the path to freedom. >> reporter: in a city of more than 8 million people it's hard to believe you can hide in plain sight. but that's exactly what the angulu family did for 14 years. here in this tiny new york city apartment. the children raised in four small rooms. homeschooled their whole lives by their mother. and locked in by their father. >> if he put us in a room, we

have to stay there. until he says you can go. >> reporter: macunda says his father oscar didn't want the boys in rooms that shared walls with neighbors. >> he basically didn't want anyone to know we were here. >> reporter: oscar had the only key to the front door and only he could use it. his father blocked the door with a tall heart to keep intruders out and his wife and children in. >> when you lift the ladder it would make a loud sound. so he would know if anyone was attempting to go out. >> reporter: the only freedom oscar did allow, what would become the boys' one true escape, was movies. how many movies have you seen? >> let's just say over 10,000. >> reporter: the anymores were more than entertainment. they were salvation. >> movies taught us sort of how to speak to one another. how you interact with another person. >> reporter: they would watch their favorites again and again. >> "the dark knight." ". >> pirates of the caribbean." >> "blade runner." >> "tacki driver."

>> reporter: their hero de niro. >> they shaped who we are. >> reporter: at some point watching is not enough. the boys decide to become a part of the movies they love. >> every time my fingers touch brain -- >> reporter: they painstakingly transcribe every word spending weeks creating handwritten scripts, homemade costumes, and props. >> "inglourious basterds." how many scenes in the movie is this? >> this is the whole movie. every word uttered in that movie. >> that's every word in "pulp fiction"? >> yes. >> you've got to be kidding me. >> reporter: with every line every hand gels tour every expression memorized, they assign parts and perform. their only audience is themselves. scenes from "reservoir dogs." from "pulp fiction." >> don't be look at me like that. i can feel your look. >> "batman."

every punch choreographed. >> reporter: macunda creating costumes from anything he can get his hands on. >> we had an oxygen tank from "no country for old men." >> reporter: after living his entire life cooped up in the tiny apartment, macunda, then 15 years old, found the courage to break free. >> it was a saturday morning. i just thought, you know what? i've got to do it today. it's now or never. >> reporter: down the 16 flights of stairs. outside without his father for the first time in his life. >> what do i do? i'm out in the open it's all out there, there's no going back now. >> reporter: their tale of family fortitude, and survival is told in a bold new documentary, "the wolfpack." but with the unveiling of the documentary, sharp questions have come up. >> you didn't argue, no this is silly, we're overreacting? >> at that time i didn't have a lot of control about the choices

that i made or could make. >> reporter: she says their father's rules and restrictions were the most extreme for their mother. >> she had the worst of it. from all of us. she had more rules than we did. any little thing that she did wrong was -- she was like put on trial. >> reporter: oscar would grant rare outings with more rules. they were told where to look how far to walk. >> we would go out in the summers, mostly. it was nice out. >> how many times a year would you go out? >> sometimes one -- >> one? >> yeah then one year not at all. >> reporter: the power dynamics finally shift after macunda's daring escape. their father was no longer in control. >> he knew it was coming. >> reporter: the brothers could join him in exploring the outside world. >> what were those first forays out like? >> pure excitement. >> like 3d, man. >> it's very fresh out here.

>> reporter: in trips out they wear armor the suits of the cast of "reservoir dogs." with long hair and sunglasses they're hard to miss. in their first week out new yorker crystal mozel spots them and does a double-take. >> i was walking down the street. all of a sudden there was six of them. and i ran after them. >> reporter: this chance encounter with filmmaker crystal mozel would change their lives and soon the brothers invite her for dinner at their apartment. crystal has no idea she is the first outsider ever allowed into the apartment. >> actually our first guest to be invited over. >> really? >> yeah. >> ever? >> yeah. ever invited before. >> why not? >> we didn't have friends. >> reporter: she starts documenting as they experience life on the outside for the first time. >> they slowly learned how to interact with people. >> the only way i knew how to make conversation with anybody was, do you like movies? what's your favorite any like this movie. oh, i like that too! >> reporter: we decided to make a dream of theirs come true. we organized a lunch, making

sure to hide what was really on the menu. a surprise introduction to a man who was their lifeline in those dark days locked in their apartment. >> hey, guys. i have somebody i want you to meet. wolfpack? meet robert de niro. >> robert. >> hi. >> reporter: they're tongue-tied, starstruck. >> geez! >> we were just talking about you. >> reporter: after they sit to break the ice, naranya asks the questions crystal taught them to use when they first started talking to strangers. >> what are some of your favorite movies? >> i like "lawrence of arabia," "on the waterfront." you guys know the films that i've done better than i do, probably. >> reporter: they're all smiles for their photo op. for the wolfpack, a simple "cheese" won't do. >> everybody say johnny boy! >> johnny boy!

>> reporter: for "nightline," i'm elizabeth vargas in new york. >> the wolfpack documentary opened today in theaters nationwide. next a different kind of family story. michael strahan has a heartwarming surprise for military kids just in time for daers day. father's day.

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♪i am beautiful in every single way♪ ♪words, can't bring me down♪ finally tonight, with father's day this weekend plenty of us have fathers or father figures to celebrate. for some this can be a holiday, for example, kids whose dads are

destroyed. abc's michael strahan knows that feeling well. with his help military families are getting a surprise and the rest of us a reason to smile. >> reporter: for these kids, heroes and fathers are one in the same. >> it's very brave. >> he has good jokes. >> i like to play with him. i love him so much. >> reporter: their dads service members deployed in afghanistan, away from their families for almost a year. as the son of a retired army major myself this brave bunch holds a special place in my heart. >> my dad was in the army. 23 years. why is it important for your dad to be in the military? >> so he can fight for our freedom and keep our country safe. >> i'm a father i have four kids. the thing i love most about being a father is talking to my kids and laughing with my kids having fun with my kids. what are some of your dad's favorite things? >> he likes to spend quality time with me. >> he's a new england patriots

fan. >> oh! he likes the patriots! you know i played football for the giants. what are some of the words you'd use to describe your dad? >> awesome. >> for these awesome dads we're going to write a father's day letter. >> reporter: what the kids don't know is their dads have a little surprise of their own. >> this is the studio. >> hey, it's dad! >> who's that guy on the screen? >> hi! that's my dad! >> they wrote a dear dad letter for father's day. >> dear dad. i love you because you protect our country and fight for our freedom. >> dear dad, i love you because you are an army commander, five star. >> i love you and i miss you. >> i love you too, guys. >> reporter: on this father's day a salute to all the soldiers fighting for our freedom. and the special group of kids ready and waiting to are their dad to come home. for "nightline" i'm michael

strahan in new york. >> so what are your plans this father's day? head to our "nightline" facebook page and let us know. we've all been given reasons to celebrate family and faith this week. thank you for watching abc news. tune into "good morning america" tomorrow. as always we're online 24/7 at abcnews.com. good night, america, have a peaceful weekend.

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