Saturday marked the eighth anniversary of the Charleston, South Carolina shooting at Emanuel AME Church, also known as Mother Emanuel, where nine members of a Bible study were killed during their routine weekly gathering.
On June 23, the church will host a humanitarian awards program in memory of the nine victims who died on June 17, 2015, nicknamed the "Emanuel Nine." Sometime this year, the church plans to break ground on a memorial honoring the victims. A Freedom Memorial Garden was also opened in honor of Susie Jackson, one of the victims, during a ceremony on Saturday in Charleston.
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Most recently, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) hearkened back to the immediate aftermath of the shooting during the South Carolina Republican Convention in March. Scott drew attention to then-Rep. Tusli Gabbard, a Democrat, at the time, who was present at the convention, as a friend of his who flew from Hawaii to Scott's state to show her support.
In 2021, the Department of Justice paid a total of $88 million—$63 million for the families of the nine people killed, and $25 million for five survivors who were inside the church at the time of the shooting—over a faulty background check that allowed the shooter to obtain the gun used in the shooting, which was ultimately termed as a hate crime.
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The gunman, Dylann Roof, who was 21-years-old at the time of the killings, was ultimately convicted in federal court and, in 2017, was sentenced to death. Now 27, Roof is appealing his case with the United States Supreme Court.