DOJ agrees to multi-million dollar settlement with families in South Carolina AME church massacre
Fox News
The Justice Department on Thursday announced that it has reached an agreement to settle with the families and survivors of the June 2015 mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
"Plaintiffs agreed to settle claims alleging that the FBI was negligent when it failed to prohibit the sale of a gun by a licensed firearms dealer to the shooter, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, who wanted to start a ‘race war’ and specifically targeted the 200-year-old historically African-American congregation," the Justice Department said in a statement Thursday.
The settlements for those killed in the massacre range from $6 million to $7.5 million per claimant, and $5 million settlements for the survivors.
"The mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church was a horrific hate crime that caused immeasurable suffering for the families of the victims and the survivors," Attorney General Merrick =Garland said in a statement. "Since the day of the shooting, the Justice Department has sought to bring justice to the community, first by a successful hate crime prosecution and today by settling civil claims."