'Tremendous hatred': Church gunman who massacred nine black worshippers faces death penalty
Dylann Roof, the self-described white supremacist who gunned down nine African American parishioners at a church in the US, has been found guilty of all his charges and could face the death penalty.
Roof showed "tremendous cowardice" and "tremendous hatred" when he gunned down nine helpless worshippers at the predominantly Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston on June 17, 2015, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams.
A federal jury only needed two hours to find the 22-year-old guilty on 33 counts, including hate crimes resulting in death.
Dylan Roof showed "tremendous cowardice" and "tremendous hatred" when he gunned down nine helpless worshippers in the US. Photo: US District courts
Roof entered the church armed and "with the intent of killing African-Americans engaged in the exercise of their religious beliefs," according to the federal indictment against him.
"He executed them because he believed they were nothing more than animals," federal prosecutor Nathan Williams said during his closing argument.
"His actions in the church are the best reflections of the vastness of his hatred."
He entered the church carrying a fanny pack which concealed his Glock 45. Photo: The Last Rodesian
The nine people killed: Top (L-R): DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Myrah Thompson. Centre (L-R): Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton and Bottom (L-R): Daniel Simmons, Clementa Pinckney and Cynthia Hurd Photo: US District courts
Three people survived the shooting spree in a Bible study group in a massacre that shocked the US, and exposed the deep divides in America over race and access to guns.
The guilty verdict sent the trial into the penalty phase and Roof, who did not testify during the trial, wants to represent himself despite the prosecutors' vow to seek a death sentence.
Assistant US Attorney Nathan Williams told the jury that Roof "needs to be held accountable for every bullet".
"It was a cold and calculated hatred that had been developing for months ... that had been seeking out the most vulnerable people to target," he said,
"The parishioners could not have seen the hatred in his heart. He sat and waited until they were at their most vulnerable."
In a videotaped confession shown in court last week, Roof calmly told FBI agents that he carried out the attack at the AME church in retaliation for alleged crimes committed by black people against white victims.
Defence attorney David Bruck hinted at mental illness in his closing argument, saying Roof had not grown up in a family with racist beliefs, had no escape plan or money, and hadn't communicated with any white supremacists.
Dylann Roof has been convicted of fatally shooting nine black parishioners during a Bible study at the Emanuel AME Church. Photo: US District courts
A federal jury only needed two hours to find Dylann Roof guilty on 33 counts. Photo: US District courts
Dylan Roof pictured wearing a vest on the day of his arrest. Photo: AP
The racist beliefs were "downloaded directly from the internet into his brain... Everything he's doing is just an imitation," Bruck said.
He called on jurors to "look past the surface" and consider that Roof didn't realise he had shot nine people, thinking he had killed four or five.
The gunman, wearing heavy clothing on a hot summer evening, was a loner without a best friend, he added.
Multiple visits
Dylan Roof, 22, was arrested on June 18 2015. Photo: Supplied
FBI agent Joseph Hamski testified on Tuesday that Roof had travelled a half-dozen times to the church in the months before the shooting, after downloading a book about the Ku Klux Klan with photographs of a cross-burning ceremony.
Roof documented the trips with photographs in which he posed in front of historic sites linked to the US South during times of slavery, sometimes wearing a jacket with the flags of apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia.
Many of the images were posted in a hate-filled online manifesto that included racist language directed at African Americans and other minorities.
CCTV showed Roof entering and leaving the church dressed in a grey sweatshirt, dark pants and boots. Photo: Charleston Police Department
Roof chuckled during his confession, saying he hadn't gone to another church "because there could be white people there."
The gunman said he became inspired after reading about a Florida neighborhood watchman's 2012 killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, a case that sparked widespread protests.
"After I read that, I typed in (online) black on white crime," Roof said.
"I had to do it, because somebody had to do something because black people are killing white people every day."
Emotional testimony
The trial featured gripping, heartrending testimony from survivors of the shooting at the church -- the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the southern US, dating back to the late 1700s when a handful of slaves gathered to worship with free African Americans.
One survivor had lain in a pool of her son and her aunt's blood, cradling her granddaughter as the massacre unfolded. The young girl also lived.
Felicia Sanders called Roof "evil" and said "there's no place on Earth for him except the pit of hell."
Roof's mother had a heart attack during the emotional testimony and had to be hospitalised.
On Wednesday, the third survivor, 72-year-old Polly Sheppard, said Roof told her he was sparing her life so she could "tell the story."
Roof's lawyers called no witnesses during the trial, resting their case after failing to persuade the judge to allow two mental health experts to testify on behalf of the defendant.
Other charges against Roof included hate crimes resulting in an attempt to kill; obstruction of exercise of religion resulting in death or an attempt to kill; and assorted firearms charges with the intent to commit murder or a violent crime.
Roof is also facing state murder charges in South Carolina, though that trial is not due to begin until January 17. State prosecutors also are seeking the death penalty.
