CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Just because some of the families of the nine people killed and three people who survived a racist massacre in a Charleston church have forgiven the man convicted in the shootings doesn’t mean they think his life should have been spared.
There are a broad range of feelings among the loved ones who were at Emanuel AME ranging from those who think there is no justification to taking a life anytime to those who believe the biblical Old Testament justice of an eye for an eye.
Dylann Roof will soon be off to federal death row, but the families he shattered when he entered Emanuel AME Church and fired 77 shots at the end of Bible study get one last chance to confront him Wednesday as U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel verifies the jury’s sentence at a hearing.
It’s the only chance for them to speak to Roof and the court directly, without having to answer specific questions.
The willingness to forgive dominated the news in the days after the June 17, 2015, shootings as victims’ families and survivors offered Roof forgiveness at his bond hearing. But there are many like Melvin Graham who said forgiveness is still a work in progress and he will forever grieve the death of his sister Cynthia Hurd.