The family of Dylann Storm Roof attended services at their own church on Sunday to pray for the nine victims of the Charleston, S.C., church shooting, the New York Daily News reported.
St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Aiken, S.C., was filled with a "great sadness" Sunday morning during the service, Rev. Herman R. Yoos said, NBC News reported.
Dylann Roof, 21-year-old, admitted to shooting nine people at Charleston's historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where he attended a Bible study before the incident.
"They are grieving in a different way, but they are grieving for those nine families, and they expressed great grief and sorrow for them," Yoos said, referring to the Roof family, NBC News reported.
The wedding of Dylann's older sister, Amber, was postponed in the wake of the massacre, People reported.
Yoos also praised victims' families, who forgave Roof, according to the Washington Post, saying: "When I see an extraordinary act - all nine families of these victims offering forgiveness to Dylann, praying for him - they have become a model of what we are supposed to follow. That forgiveness is not something that is natural in our human nature. Our human nature is to want to get even."
He also pointed out that the brutal massacre proves that the U.S. needs to "address the deep serious issue of racism in our society."
"We need to confront the reality of racism and work together to build honest communications, honest dialogue, prayerful conversations that help that help this be a turning point for our state," he said.
