CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Charleston church where nine African-Americans were shot in what the police say were racially motivated killings has given $1.5 million in donations to family members of the victims.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reported that Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church said it kept about $1.8 million in donations for building maintenance, an endowment and a scholarship fund.

The money was donated to the church in the months after the shootings last June. Church leaders say that only $280,000 worth of donations were specified for the victims’ families, but that the church decided to add more than $1 million to those gifts.

An additional $78,000 specified for the city of Charleston’s Hope Fund will be sent there to be distributed, said Wilbur Johnson, the church’s lawyer.