US to pay $88M to families, victims of SC church massacre

By MEG KINNARD
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Families of nine victims killed in a racist attack at a Black South Carolina church have reached a settlement with the Justice Department over a faulty background check that allowed Dylann Roof to purchase the gun he used in the 2015 massacre. The Justice Department will pay $88 million, which includes $63 million for the families of the slain and $25 million for survivors of the shooting, it was announced Thursday. Weeks before the church shooting, Roof was arrested by Columbia, South Carolina, police on the drug possession charge. But a series of clerical errors and missteps allowed Roof to buy the handgun he later used in the killings.