The white man suspected of murdering nine black people during Bible study at a South Carolina church was charged on Wednesday with federal hate crimes, adding to multiple state counts that raise the possibility of a death sentence.
"The parishioners had Bibles. Dylann Roof had his .45 caliber Glock pistol and eight magazines loaded with hollow point bullets," U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said after a federal grand jury returned the 33-count indictment against Roof.
The 21-year-old is accused of the deadly shooting spree last month at Charleston's historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The indictment says he targeted the victims on the basis of race, in a house of worship, "in order to make his attack more notorious."