CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - The South Carolina church where nine parishioners were shot and killed in what police called a racially motivated attack earlier this year is sharing about half of the money donated to it with survivors of the attack and the families of those killed.
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church announced Wednesday in a press release given to local media that it will donate about $1.5 million of the $3.4 million given to it in the wake of the June 17 shooting to the victims' organization, called Charleston's Hope Fund. That group has raised nearly $3 million on its own.
Emanuel AME says it will use its share of the donated money for building improvements, a permanent memorial to the nine killed and five survivors and scholarships and community outreach projects.
