By: Tadi Abedje

Roof was convicted on all 33 counts as a result of the deadly, racially motivated shooting and was given a death sentence in 2017. 

According to the court’s ruling, the Columbia, South Carolina, native barely had any regrets about his actions when he was arrested. 

“Dylann Roof murdered African Americans at their church, during their Bible-study and worship. They had welcomed him. He slaughtered them. He did so with the express intent of terrorizing not just his immediate victims at the historically important Mother Emanuel Church, but as many similar people as would hear of the mass murder,” said the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in their opinion. “He used the internet to plan his attack and, using his crimes as a catalyst, intended to foment racial division and strife across America. He wanted the widest possible publicity for his atrocities, and, to that end, he purposefully left one person alive in the church ‘to tell the story.’” 

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According to Live 5 News, Roof and his attorneys tried to appeal the death sentence three months ago to no avail. Also, they made their case that the lower court shouldn’t have let him represent himself due to his mental illness. 

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On June 17, 2015, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church was having its bible study led by pastor Clementa C. Pinckney. Dylann Roof was welcomed by the congregation during the service. Then, he shot and killed nine people inside the church with his handgun. 

The victims were Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Tywanza Sanders, Sharonda Singleton, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Susan Jackson, Ethel Lance and Myra Thompson.