Susie Jackson, an 87-year-old African American woman, was a beloved matriarch and a long-time, active member of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. A dedicated member of her church community, she served on the trustee board, the usher board, and sang in the choir. Friends and family remember her as a loving and giving woman with a great smile. Her home was known as a welcoming place for good food and fellowship.
She was a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and her family was the center of her world.
On the evening of June 17, 2015, Susie Jackson was attending a Wednesday night Bible study at the historic Emanuel AME Church, a place that was her second home. A young white supremacist named Dylann Roof had entered the church and sat with the parishioners for about an hour before opening fire during their closing prayer. Jackson was one of nine people tragically killed in the racially motivated attack. Her grandnephew, Tywanza Sanders, who was also killed that night, died while trying to protect her.
The shooter, Dylann Roof, fled the scene and was arrested the following day in Shelby, North Carolina, after a citizen recognized his car from a description released by the police. He was found with a. 45-caliber handgun, the weapon used in the shooting. Roof had published a manifesto online detailing his white supremacist views and his desire to start a 'race war.'
Dylann Roof was charged with nine counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. He faced both state and federal charges. In December 2016, a federal jury found him guilty on all 33 counts. The following month, he was sentenced to death. In a separate state trial, Roof pleaded guilty to the nine murder charges to avoid a second death sentence and was sentenced to nine consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
