In Charleston, South Carolina, a jury has found Dylann Roof guilty on 33 counts of federal hate crimes for murdering nine black worshipers, including Pastor Clementa Pinckney, at the historic Emanuel AME Church in June 2015. The verdict, reached after the jury deliberated for less than two hours, came after 30 witnesses testified over six days. One of the witnesses was Felicia Sanders, who said she watched as Roof pulled out a Glock .45-caliber handgun and began shooting, striking and wounding her son and killing her aunt. She says she took cover underneath a table with her 11-year-old granddaughter and tried to cover herself and the girl in other people’s blood so Roof would think they were already dead. Roof embraced white supremacist views and was shown in photographs posing with the Confederate flag and a pistol. Roof is facing the death penalty. His sentence will be decided in the penalty phase of the trial, slated to begin January 3.
South Carolina: Dylann Roof Guilty on 33 Counts of Federal Hate Crimes
HeadlineDec 16, 2016
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