The Department of Justice announced last Thursday that they have reached an $88 million settlement with the families of churchgoers shot and killed in the historically Black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The settlement also extends to victims who were injured during the shooting.

The June 2015 shooting took place after 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof entered the church during an evening bible study. His rampage claimed the lives of nine victims ranging in age from 26 to 87. Five others survived the shooting. The victims, who were all black, have since been referred to as “The Emmanuel Nine.”

The settlement payout allocates $25 million which will be split among five survivors. $63 million will be split among the families of those killed. The settlement payouts range from $6 million to $7.5 million.

The DOJ explains that the settlement will resolve claims that the FBI was negligent when it failed to stop the sale of a Glock 41 .45 caliber handgun by a licensed firearms dealer to Roof, a self-proclaimed white supremacist. Roof was sentenced to death in 2017 but has since appealed his conviction. The three-judge panel that heard Roof’s appeal in August upheld the sentence. "His crimes qualify him for the harshest penalty that a just society can impose. We have reached that conclusion not as a product of emotion but through a thorough analytical process, which we have endeavored to detail here,” the panel shared.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said of the settlement, “The mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church was a horrific hate crime that caused immeasurable suffering for the families of the victims and the survivors.” Garland adds, “Since the day of the shooting, the Justice Department has sought to bring justice to the community, first by a successful hate crime prosecution and today by settling civil claims.”

The church's Rev. Clementa Pinckney lost his life during the shooting. Following news of the settlement, his widow, Jennifer Pinckney, shared, "Even though Clementa is not with us here physically, I know spiritually he is with us, and I know that he's smiling down on us right now." Pinckney adds, "He will be missed, along with all the others that didn't survive that night."

Pickney’s daughter Eliana Pickney shared, “No amount of compensation will ever replace my father’s life, but through the help and the opportunities that the government and the people standing behind me have provided, it allows me and my sister to have the opportunity to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to make sure that my father’s legacy doesn’t go away.”

Bakari Sellers, the attorney representing the victims, shared that the settlement was a "big 'F you' to White supremacists of this country." He details that the settlement amount of $88 million is symbolic because the number was a symbol of hate as it referenced Adolf Hitler. The number was depicted on Roof’s shoes when he entered the church the day of the shooting. "Domestic terror, White domestic terror, is a real issue in this country," Sellers contends. "These individuals were killed because they were Black. That attack was not on First Baptist, that attack was on Mother Emanuel AME Church. So let's not misconstrue what this issue is."

Following the shooting, the FBI has worked to strengthen background checks for gun sales. The DOJ shares that they, alongside the FBI, are “ actively working to combat gun violence, which is a significant aspect of the department’s comprehensive violent crime reduction strategy.”