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Carolina Panthers owner gives $100K to Charleston victims’ families

by Mark Hensch - 06/20/15 4:54 PM ET

The owner of the National Football League’s Carolina Panthers is donating $100,000 to families victimized by a mass shooting in Charleston, S.C. earlier this week.

Team owner Jerry Richardson announced the contribution in a letter dated Friday, The Charleston Post and Courier reported Saturday.

Richardson addressed his message to South Carolina state Rep. Bakari Sellers (D), the state lawmaker leading fundraising efforts for those who lost loved ones in Wednesday’s attack.

{mosads}The report said Richardson is giving $10,000 to each of the nine families related to victims in the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston.

Another $10,000 is going to the Calhoun Street church for a memorial honoring those lost.

“Our hearts are one with those who grieve the loss of these individuals,” Richardson wrote.

Richardson is a native North Carolinian who also has close bonds to South Carolina.

He attended at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., playing football before assuming control of the Panthers, who are based in Charlotte, N.C.

Richardson also served as the chairman and CEO of Flagstar, a Spartanburg-based company that operated about 2,500 restaurants.

Dylann Storm Roof, 21, had a $1 million bond levied against him Friday as the alleged gunman in the attack.

Relatives related to the incident’s victims forgave the suspected gunman’s actions during emotional testimony at a hearing in Charleston that afternoon.

Roof was arrested in Shelby, N.C., on Thursday following a 14-hour manhunt for his whereabouts.

He allegedly uttered racial epithets before firing on Emanuel AME Church’s congregants during Wednesday evening’s attack.

Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the church’s pastor and a South Carolina state senator, was one of nine victims killed by the gunfire.

Roof’s website was reportedly discovered Saturday.

Titled “The Last Rhodesian,” it features photos of Roof engaged in multiple activities with racist or violent undertones.

It also features a document by an unknown author explaining the evolution of racial views and implying a future attack on Charleston.

“I chose Charleston because it is [the] most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in country,” the author says, without revealing what the city was chosen for.

“We have no skinheads, no KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the Internet,” the passage continues. “Well, someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”

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