The five survivors and families of the nine deceased victims who were targeted in the 2015 church mass shooting in South Carolina have reached a settlement with the Justice Department. According to reports, the families received $63 million and the survivors received $25 million -- bringing the total settlement to $88 million.
Dylann Roof was arrested and convicted for carrying out the racist massacre that claimed the lives of nine Black churchgoers. However, the settlement was reached due to clerical errors that allowed Roof to purchase a gun despite the fact that he was arrested on a drug charge weeks before the mass shooting. The families of the nine murdered victims and the five survivors argued that the errors resulted in the massacre. The lawsuit was originally thrown out before an appeals court reinstated the suit in 2019.
"We've given a big 'F you' to White supremacy and racism," said Bakari Sellers, who helped broker the settlement. "We're doing that by building generational wealth in these Black communities, from one of the most horrific race crimes in the country."
Sellers added that the amount of the settlement was purposeful as Roof took 88 bullets with him to the church and the number is associated with White supremacy. This past August, Dylann Roof’s death sentence was upheld in a federal appeals court.
Source: AP News
