The morning after the Charleston shooting, the local paper did this

A local newspaper in Charleston has been forced to apologise after running a front page advert for a gun shop the morning after nine people were shot dead in the town.

The sticky ad on the front of the Charleston Post and Courier promoted $30 shooting sessions at the ATP Gun Shop and Range in nearby Summerville.

The Post and Courierapologised on Facebook after images of the advert appeared on social media, explaining that it was a "regrettable coincidence".

The front-page sticky note that was attached to some home delivery newspapers on the same day as this tragedy is a deeply regrettable coincidence. We apologise to those who were offended.

• Charleston Post and Courier

An unnamed advertising executive from the paper also told media journalist Jim Romenesko that the ad had already been scheduled and was merely "unfortunate timing".

Although as Romenesko points out: "Why didn’t the ad person who knew the ad was scheduled to run alert the pressroom after hearing about the shootings?"

More: Here's what we do and do not know about the Charleston shooting