Appeals court won’t hold rehearing in church shooting case

A federal appeals court has rejected a request to reconsider a ruling that reinstated a lawsuit over a faulty background check that allowed a South Carolina man to buy the gun he used to kill nine people in a racist attack at a Charleston church.

In August, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling from a lower court judge who threw out claims brought by relatives of people killed by Dylann Roof in the 2015 massacre.

The U.S. Department of Justice asked for a rehearing before the full court of 15 judges. But the 4th Circuit rejected that request Tuesday.

Roof has been sentenced to death.

The FBI has acknowledged that Roof’s drug possession arrest should have prevented him from buying a gun.