Conversations Of A Sistah

A survivor of last year’s massacre of nine African American churchgoers in Charleston, SC recalled in federal court today how gunman, Dylann Roof, spared her life, telling her he needed her “to tell the story.”

Polly Sheppard (pictured above left), told a jury, she dove under a table as shots rang out at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015 at the end of a Bible study session.

When Sheppard opened her eyes, Roof’s boots were in her line of sight, she told the jury who’s hearing the federal death penalty case in South Carolina, what Roof said to her.

“Did I shoot you yet?” Roof asked, according to Sheppard.

“No,” she replied.

“I’m not going to. I need you to tell the story,” Roof said.

Roof was given a Bible and pamphlet when he entered the church and joined the group, Sheppard recalled.

At the end of the session about 50 minutes later, the group stood to pray, closing their eyes.

That was when gunshots rang out.

Sheppard said she mistook them for the sparking of old electrical wiring until her friend Felicia Sanders started screaming.

“Oh, he’s shooting everybody, Miss Polly,” Sheppard recalled Sanders saying.

Sheppard told the court how Roof executed 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders, Felicia Sanders’s son.

“Why are you doing this? We mean you no harm,” said a wounded Tywanza Sanders, who propped himself up on his elbows to address the attacker before being shot dead.

“I have to. I have to. You’re raping our women and taking over the nation,” Roof said, according to Sheppard’s account.

Closing arguments are set for tomorrow, with the jury expected to begin deliberations. Should he be found guilty, Roof has elected to represent himself during the sentencing phase of the trial. Either way, he faces the death penalty.