Dylann Roof, the suspect in last month's massacre at an African-American church in Charleston, S.C., has been indicted by a grand jury on nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, the prosecutor said Tuesday.
Roof, a 21-year-old white man reported to have racist views, was charged in the June 17 massacre that left nine people dead at Charleston's predominantly black Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Episcopal Church. The victims had been taking part in an evening Bible study, and Roof joined them for several minutes before he drew a gun and began shooting.
Survivors told police that during the massacre Roof shouted racist epithets and reportedly told at least one survivor that she was being allowed to live so she could tell others what happened, reported the Detroit Free Press.
Roof had already been charged by state warrants with the nine murder counts and one count of possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Three additional attempted murder charges related to people who survived the shooting were presented to the grand jury, prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The shooting, and Roof's fondness for the Confederate flag, sparked a push to remove a Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the state Capitol. The South Carolina Senate earlier Tuesday formally approved and sent to the House a bill removing the flag, where it has flown either atop the Capitol or on a nearby flagpole for 54 years, according to USA Today.
A white supremacist manifesto purportedly written by Roof to explain why he targeted the church said he had "no choice" but to target African-Americans, whom he derided as "stupid and violent."
