Bakari Sellers, the attorney for the families of victims killed in the 2015 Mother Emanuel AME Church massacre, speaks with reporters outside the Justice Department, in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. Families of nine victims killed in a racist attack at the Black South Carolina church have reached a settlement with the Justice Department over a faulty background check that allowed Dylann Roof to purchase the gun he used in the 2015 massacre. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
The Department of Justice announced a multi-million dollar settlement in the 2015 deadly Charleston church shooting. It revealed the settlements Wednesday, which range from $6 million to $7.5 million for families of those killed and $5 million settlements for family members of survivors.
This came after 14 defendants launched a lawsuit alleging the FBI was negligent when its background check system failed to discover the shooter, Dylan Roof, was prohibited from possessing a firearm. The gunman opened fire on a 200-year-old historically black congregation during bible study, in turn, killing nine people.
“This is what the law is about,” stated attorney Bakari Sellers. “We cannot bring back those nine victims, we cannot erase the scars that those survivors have, but what we do here today as lawyers and these families is we say we stand on justice.”
Justice Department Announces Multi-Million Dollar Civil Settlement in Principle in Mother Emanuel Charleston Church Mass Shooting
Department Agrees to Settle Allegations Surrounding FBI Actionshttps://t.co/8JN0cFDcBi
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) October 28, 2021
The shooter became the very first person in the country to be sentenced to death for a federal hate crime.
Source: One America News Network
