Man accused of gunning down 9 wants death penalty dropped

Dylann Roof is accused of killing nine people at a church in 2015

Defense attorneys of the accused killer Dylann Roof filed a legal challenge to the U.S. death penalty on Monday night.

Roof's attorneys filed the motion stating that they would drop the challenge if prosecutors dropped their pursuit of the death sentence in his case.

Roof, 22, is accused of killing nine people at a historic African American church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. Roof, who is white, is charged with 33 federal offenses, including hate crime charges for allegedly targeting his victims on the basis of their race and religion.

"The nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm compelled this decision," Attorney General Loretta Lynch had said in May, regarding the decision to pursue the death penalty.