Death penalty wanted for 22-year-old Dylann Roof

Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a white man accused of killing nine black parishioners in a racially motivated attack at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, last June, the US Justice Department said.

“The nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm compelled this decision,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

Dylann Roof, 22, is accused of opening fire on June 17, 2015, during Bible study at Charleston’s historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in a massacre that shook the country and intensified debate over US race relations.

He faces 33 federal charges, including hate crimes, obstruction of religion, and firearms offences.

In a court filing, federal prosecutors cited a number of factors for seeking the death penalty, saying Roof singled out victims who were black and elderly, and showed no remorse.

They also cited “substantial planning and premeditation”.

A friend of Roof, 21-year-old Joseph Meek, pleaded guilty last month to concealing his knowledge of Roof’s intention to carry out the attack, saying then that Roof planned the shooting for six months and wanted to start a race war.

Roof’s lawyers have said he would agree to plead guilty, rather than face trial if prosecutors ruled out capital punishment. But defence attorney Michael O’Connell, declined comment on the decision when reached by phone.

Roof also faces the death penalty if convicted on separate, state murder charges in a trial set to begin in January.