Dylann S. Roof, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, made headlines last year when he opened fire at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston that left 9 parishioners dead. On Thursday, a federal court in the same state found him guilty of all the 33 counts he has been charged with.
NY Times reported that Mr. Roof had shockingly admitted his guilt to investigators about 18 months ago and revealed his blatantly racist reasons through a manifesto that he circulated online. He seemed to have intensely premeditated his chosen target and scouted the church 12 times. While he also explored other black churches as well as a festival somewhere else in South Carolina, he wrote that he settled on Charleston because it is the "most historic city" in his state.
It took the jury only about a couple of hours to deliberate on the case. Afterward, a court official read out each count while the accused stood silent and emotionless, USA Today reported. A number of people inside the courtroom, who lost loved ones in that June 2015 horrific incident, nodded in silence each time "guilty" was recited.
"I wasn't expecting anything less," said Felicia Sanders about the verdict. Felicia, together with her 11-year-year old granddaughter, was among those who survived the attack. She was reported to have embraced the child so tightly she could have choked her just so she could keep her still in the middle of the gunfire.
However, Felicia's 26-year-old son, Tywanza Sanders, and her aunt, Susie Jackson, were among the 9 people who lost their lives. When the court was adjourned, she and fellow survivor, Polly Sheppard, shared an extended embrace.
Mr. Roof is scheduled to face the same jurors again on Jan. 3 next year as they have yet to decide between death and life imprisonment without parole for his sentence. Two months after his shooting rampage last year, Jobs & Hire reported about a local community opposing the ban of Tennessee's county flag among students.
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