9/11 Memorial Designer Picked to Honor Charleston Church Shooting Victims

(CHARLESTON, S.C.) — The architect who designed the 9/11 Memorial in New York has been chosen to create a memorial to honor the nine worshippers who died in a racist attack on a Charleston church.

The planners of the memorial announced their choice of Michael Arad on Saturday, the second anniversary of the massacre at Emanuel AME church.

Emanuel AME pastor the Rev. Eric Manning says the memorial on church grounds will be a reminder of the resiliency of the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South.

Dylann Roof sat through 45 minutes of Bible study at the church on June 17, 2015, before shooting the first of more than 70 shots on June 17, 2015. He has been sentenced to the death penalty for hate crimes for killing the black churchgoers.