CHARLESTON, S.C. – The federal government wants more time to respond to wrongful death lawsuits stemming from the South Carolina church shootings that claimed the lives of nine black parishioners.
Fifteen lawsuits have been filed alleging the FBI negligently performed the background check on 22-year-old Dylann Roof before he was sold the gun used in the June 2015 shootings at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church.
In court documents filed Monday, Justice Department attorneys ask that the Sept. 6 deadline be extended until Oct. 14.
The South Carolina U.S. Attorney's Office is no longer handling the case which is now assigned to the Justice Department's civil torts branch. The filing says attorneys in that branch need additional time to prepare a response.
The document said the plaintiffs' attorneys don't object to extending the deadline.
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