Justice Department reaches $88 million settlement with families of 2015 Charleston church shooting

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has reached an $88 million civil settlement with the families of victims and survivors from the 2015 mass shooting at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

The agreement stems from a failure with the background check system, which allowed the shooter to access a gun he never should have gotten in the first place.

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“This is pain that I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life,” said Eliana Pinckney, who lost her father Reverend Clementa Pinckney in the shooting.

Her dad was one of nine people killed in the shooting.

Eliana Pinckney was just 11 at the time of her father’s killing and on Thursday she stood alongside her younger sister and mother as the settlement was announced by attorneys.

“No amount of compensation will ever replace my father’s life,” said Eliana Pinckney. “It allows me and my sister to have the opportunity to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to make sure my father’s legacy doesn’t go away.”

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“Even though Clementa is not here with us physically, I know spiritually he’s with us and I know that he’s smiling down on us right now,” said her mother Jennifer Pinkney.

Investigators said the shooter, Dylann Roof, was a white supremacist who wanted to start a race war.

The families sued the FBI alleging that it’s criminal background check system failed to stop Roof from getting a gun.

The way federal law works is that if a background check isn’t completed within three business days, the gun dealer can go ahead and sell the gun.

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Roof had a prior drug charge and should not have been sold a gun, but he got one anyway because his background check wasn’t completed in time.

The background check delay which allowed Roof to buy a gun is often known as the ‘Charleston loophole.’

The number 88 in the total settlement dollar amount is symbolic because 88 is the white supremacist code for ‘Heil Hitler’ and attorneys said Roof had it written on his shoes.

READ: $88M settlement reached between Charleston church massacre victims, families and government

“88 was steeped in so much white supremacy and hate and so today we get to give a big ‘FU’ to the white supremacists and racists in this country,” said attorney Bakari Sellers.

For the victims’ families, there is a sense of justice from the settlement but their journey toward healing is ongoing.

“To make sure we are doing everything we can with the rest of our lives, living to our fullest potential and making sure that his legacy stays uplifted,” said Eliana Pinckney.

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