CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – A group of anonymous donors from outside South Carolina is giving $3 million for college scholarships for Charleston-area students in the wake of the mass shootings of nine people during a Bible study last month.
The nine were gunned down on June 17 at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. announced in the sanctuary Friday that the scholarship fund is being named in honor of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the church’s pastor who was also killed. Pinckney was a South Carolina state senator.
The donors said in a statement they want to honor Pinckney, who they said embodied the values that bind the nation together.
Riley said scholarships would go first to students in the families of the shooting victims.
