A memorial fund totalling $2.5m will be distributed among the survivors and families of the nine victims of the Charleston church shooting on June 17.
The mayor of Charleston, Joseph P Riley Jr, announced yesterday that the money – which was donated by 6,500 people from all over the US and abroad in amounts ranging between 50 cents and $100,000 – will be distributed using a formula developed by lawyers. Over half (55 per cent) of the $2.5m will be given to the families of those who died, and $625,000 to the five survivors.
The rest of the money, which is tax-free, will be given specifically to the children of those who died, and also to those who provided for the families of those involved in the days following the shooting. An additional $300,000 raised by the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund has already been released to pay for funerals.
The nine killed were shot by gunman Dylann Roof during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June. In the aftermath of the shooting, the relatives of those who died publicly forgave Roof.
He has been charged with nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in addition to federal hate crime charges, which could mean he is given the death penalty.
Roof, 21, had written a manifesto online ahead of the shooting, in which he said he had "no choice" but to kill black people.
"I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country," he wrote.
"We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me."
His trial is scheduled to begin in July 2016.
