The man suspected of shooting dead
nine people at an African-American church in Charleston has been charged
with nine counts
of murder and one weapons possession charge, police
say.Suspect Dylann Roof, 21, is due to make his first court appearance on Friday.
Police are treating the killings at the Emanuel AME Church on Wednesday night in South Carolina as a hate crime.
He was arrested the following day more than 200 miles away in North Carolina and then flown back to Charleston.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has said Mr Roof should face execution.
"We will absolutely want him to have the death penalty," she told NBC News.
Mr Roof's first court hearing is set for 14:00 local time (18:00 GMT), but it is likely he will appear via a video feed and not in person.
The victims of the shooting, which took place during a bible study group, included the pastor.
Mr Roof reportedly sat with them for nearly an hour before pulling out his handgun and perpetrating the massacre.
One survivor recalled him saying: "You all rape women and you're taking over our country."
President Barack Obama described the event as yet another tragedy caused by guns in society.
His wife Michelle, who is travelling in Italy, said: "I pray for a community that I know is in pain with the hope that tragedies like these will one day come to an end."
The city's mayor Joseph Riley called the massacre an act of "pure, pure concentrated evil".
He said that while the community had faced challenges, nothing in the past century matched this shooting.
The Victims
- Cynthia Hurd, 54
- Rev Clementa Pinckney, 41
- Rev Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45
- Tywanza Sanders, 26
- Ethel Lance, 70
- Rev Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49
- Susie Jackson, 87
- Rev Daniel Simmons Sr, 74
- Myra Thompson, 59
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