US jury sentences Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof to death

A US jury has sentenced Dylann Roof, the self-described white supremacist who gunned down nine black worshippers in a South Carolina church, to death over the June 2015 massacre.

Roof, 22, was convicted last month of 33 federal charges, including hate crimes resulting in death, in connection with the carnage at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston.

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours.

Roof stared straight ahead as the judge read through the jury's verdict findings before announcing his

death sentence, local media reported on social media.

Roof, who represented himself for the penalty phase, was unrepentant during his closing argument earlier in the day.

He told jurors he still felt the massacre was something he had to do and did not ask that his life be spared.

Roof still faces a trial on murder charges in state court, where prosecutors also are seeking the death penalty.