Close X
Saturday, March 1, 2025
ADVT 
International

South Carolina's Indian American Governor Nikki Haley Seeks Death Penalty For US Church Shooter

Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Jun, 2015 01:07 PM
    As the white young man who killed nine people at a historic US black church faced a court, many victims' families forgave him, but South Carolina's Indian American governor Nikki Haley sought the death penalty for him.
     
    Dylann Storm Roof, 21, who is reported to have confessed to Wednesday night's horrific massacre at at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, with vague plans "to start a race war" appeared in court via video Friday.
     
    Roof, who has been charged with nine counts of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, was expressionless, as Magistrate James Gosnell Jr., opened a bond hearing in Charleston.
     
    The judge set a $1 million bond on the possession of a firearm count but no bond on the murder charges.
     
    Roof spoke only a few words in response to the judge's questions and did not enter a plea.
     
    He showed no emotion as family members of his victims addressed the court and Roof, expressing both anger and forgiveness.
     
    "I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you," a daughter of Ethel Lance said. "And have mercy on your soul. You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people, but God forgives you, and I forgive you."
     
    Felicia Sanders, mother of victim Tywanza Sanders, said that "every fiber in my body hurts, and I will never be the same."
     
    "As we said in the Bible study, we enjoyed you," she said of Roof's time at the church before the massacre. "But may God have mercy on you."
     
    However, calling the shooting spree a hate crime, Haley said Friday that Roof should face the death penalty.
     
     
    "This is an absolute hate crime," Haley, a Republican, said in an interview Friday with the "Today" show.
     
    "And when I've been talking with investigators as we've been going through the interviews, they said they looked pure evil in the eye yesterday. Without question this is hate."
     
    "We absolutely will want him to have the death penalty," she said.
     
    Louisiana's Indian-American Governor Bobby Jindal supported the death penalty for Roof.
     
    "This gunman was filled with hate," he told reporters shortly after speaking at the "Road to Majority" conference Friday.
     
    Meanwhile, thousands of people attended a vigil Friday in honour of the nine victims of the shooting.
     
    The service at the College of Charleston's arena began with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, followed by a procession with the Charleston Pipe and Drum playing "Amazing Grace," CBS affiliate WCSC-TV reported.
     
    "Our sisters and brothers who are gone would say to let our light shine while we have it," the Rev. Jeremy Rutledge told the audience.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Amid Large Dollops Of Culture, Modi, Xi Discuss Border, Trade Deficit

    Amid Large Dollops Of Culture, Modi, Xi Discuss Border, Trade Deficit
    The over 90-minute talks between the two Asian leaders, held at the Shaanxi Guest House, were "very substantive and the atmosphere was very comfortable", said Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, briefing newspersons.

    Amid Large Dollops Of Culture, Modi, Xi Discuss Border, Trade Deficit

    Chinese Media Lauds Modi, Sino-Indian Ties

    Chinese Media Lauds Modi, Sino-Indian Ties
    After being critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi days ahead of his three-day visit to China, the Chinese media was fullsoe in his praise on Thursday as he landed in Xi'an.

    Chinese Media Lauds Modi, Sino-Indian Ties

    Four Indian Americans Elected To American Academy Of Arts And Sciences

    Four Indian Americans Elected To American Academy Of Arts And Sciences
    Four Indian Americans - Sanjeev Arora, Sangeeta N. Bhatia, Ravindran Kannan and Renu Malhotra - are among 197 new members of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a leading centre for independent policy research.

    Four Indian Americans Elected To American Academy Of Arts And Sciences

    Canadian Man Abid Gilani Among The 7 People Killed In Amtrak Train Crash In Philadelphia

    Canadian Man Abid Gilani Among The 7 People Killed In Amtrak Train Crash In Philadelphia
    Abid Gilani was a senior vice-president for Wells Fargo in New York City and had been with the company for about a year, according to his profile page on LinkedIn.

    Canadian Man Abid Gilani Among The 7 People Killed In Amtrak Train Crash In Philadelphia

    Harper Government Keeps Pitching Oil Pipelines In U.S., Even If Alberta Won't

    Harper Government Keeps Pitching Oil Pipelines In U.S., Even If Alberta Won't
    OTTAWA — A new political reality surfaced Wednesday in which Ottawa is aggressively marketing an Alberta pipeline project that the new provincial government says it won't promote and doesn't even want.

    Harper Government Keeps Pitching Oil Pipelines In U.S., Even If Alberta Won't

    MLA Wants B.C. To Tear Up Pact Giving Ottawa Power Over Pipeline Reviews

    VICTORIA — The Green party member of the British Columbia legislature has designed a loophole in recall legislation that he says would allow residents to regain control over approval of oil pipelines.

    MLA Wants B.C. To Tear Up Pact Giving Ottawa Power Over Pipeline Reviews