The grieving relatives of the nine worshipers gunned down during a Bible study at historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Wednesday painfully forgave the confessed gunman, Dylann Roof, and urged him to “repent” during his bond hearing Friday. Judge James Gosnell set his bond at $1 million and he remained in custody late Friday afternoon.
The tearful family members of the victims who died in the massacre at Charleston’s South Carolina church expressed their pain and heartache between sobs while speaking at Roof’s bond hearing.
“I forgive you,” the emotional daughter of Ethel Lance, 70, one of the victims, told Roof. “You took something really precious from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her ever again, but I forgive you!”
Myra Thompson, 59, was also among the nine killed on Wednesday night. One of her grieving relatives urged Roof to “repent” and give his life to Christ.
“I forgive you, my family forgives you,” Anthony Thompson told Roof. “But take this opportunity to repent. Repent. Confess. Give your life to the one that matters the most — Christ — so that He can change you and change your ways no matter what happened to you, and you’ll be OK. Do that and you’ll be better off than you are right now.”
Roof was charged with nine counts of murder for each victim and possession of a firearm for the massacre which police have called a hate crime. While under state law Roof is ineligible for bond on the murder charges, Gosnell set his bond at $1 million bond on the weapons charge.
Source: ChristianPost
