Justice Department reaches $88 million settlement with families of the victims and survivors of 2015 Charleston church shooting

• The DOJ reached a settlement with families and survivors of the Charleston church shooting.
• A settlement will give $63 million total to families of those killed and $25 million to survivors.
• The litigation had been ongoing since 2016, the Justice Department said.

The Department of Justice on Thursday said it reached a multi-million dollar settlement with the families of victims and survivors of the 2015 Charleston church massacre.

Families had sued after the FBI failed to conduct a proper background check that would have prevented the 22-year-old gunman from purchasing the gun he used in the shooting, NBC News reported.

Lawyers told the news outlet that the settlement will give $63 million total to the families of those who were killed, and $25 million to survivors of the attack. The Justice Department said each settlement for those killed range from $6 million to $7.5 million per family and settlements for those who survived are $5 million.

"The mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church was a horrific hate crime that caused immeasurable suffering for the families of the victims and the survivors," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Thursday.

He added: "Since the day of the shooting, the Justice Department has sought to bring justice to the community, first by a successful hate crime prosecution and today by settling civil claims."

Litigation had been ongoing since 2016, the Justice Department said.

A federal jury in 2016 convicted the gunman on hate crimes charges, using a weapon to murder, and obstruction of religion in the 2015 shooting that left nine people dead at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The FBI, in the wake of the shooting, has tried to strengthen its background check policy to prevent it from happening again, the Justice Department said.