Dylann Roof trial: Charleston church shooting accused convicted, may face death penalty

A panel of 12 jurors on Thursday found the Charleston church massacre accused Dylann Roof guilty on all 33 counts of murder charges. Roof shot and killed nine parishioners at the Mother Emanuel church in Charleston in June 2015. The incident was registered as an attempted murder and federal hate crime by the authorities.

Roof now faces a death penalty or life imprisonment for the crimes he committed. Reports state that Roof's defence team was restrained after two of the adult survivors of the attack gave their testimony. The 22-year-old had also confessed to his crimes in an interview with FBI investigators, which was recorded and played in the court in the last hearing.

A two-hour conversation video, recorded shortly after Roof was taken into custody, was played before the jury in the trial. Roof was accused of entering the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church on a Wednesday evening during a bible study summer and opening fire at the worshippers gathered there.

In the video conversation, Roof told the investigators: "I was sitting there thinking about whether I should do it or not." He said that before opening fire he was sitting with the people studying the Bible for 15 minutes and was contemplating whether he should shoot or not. "I just finally decided I had to do it," he told the agents, "It was going back and forth in my mind, it was like a jerk, a jerk reaction," he added.

The pictures of the victims were reportedly displayed before the court as they lived, smiling and happy, and as they died riddled with bullets in a church basement. A prosecuting attorney, during his closing arguments, described Roof's actions in the church as "tremendous cowardice fueled by "cold, calculated hatred," according to the Post and Courier.

The Southern Poverty Law Center president Richard Cohen on Thursday issued a statement saying that Dylann Roff is the "modern face of domestic terrorism."

"Dylann Roof represents the modern face of domestic terrorism: the extremist who acts alone after being radicalised online. Charleston is still healing from Roof's horrific, racially motivated crime, as is our nation. Our hearts go out to the victims' families who will forever mourn the loss of their loved ones," the statement said.

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