A 21-year-old white man accused of murdering nine people in a historic black South Carolina church has appeared in court via video link from a detention centre in Charleston.
Dylann Roof is accused of carrying out a shooting which killed nine people at the Emanuel African Episcopal Church yesterday.
He stood quietly through the hearing, providing brief answers to the judge's questions, confirming his name and address and saying he was unemployed.
Judge James Gosnell, who had no authority to release Mr Roof on the nine murder charges he faces, set a bond of $1 million for the one gun charge he faces and further remanded him in custody.
In a court statement, the daughter of one of the shooting victims, 70-year-old Ethel Lance, said she forgives the gunman.
A son of another victim, Myra Thompson, 59, also expressed forgiveness during the hearing.
The mother of 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders told Mr Roof: "May god have mercy on your soul".
The six other people killed in the attack have been named as Senator Clementa Pinckney, 41; Reverend Daniel Simmons, 74; DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49; Sharonda Coleman Singleton, 45; Cynthia Hurd, 54 and Susie Jackson, 87.
Unnamed law enforcement officials said that Mr Roof has confessed to carrying out the shooting, but Charleston Police spokesman Charles Francis declined to comment on the reports.
US officials are investigating Mr Roof's attack as a hate crime, as it appears he intended to start a race war.
A Department of Justice spokeswoman said the Charleston shooting will be investigated as "an act of domestic terrorism".
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said that Mr Roof should face the death penalty if convicted.
In an interview on NBC's Today show, Ms Haley said: "This is a state hurt by the fact that nine people innocently were killed. We will absolutely want him to have the death penalty."
Ms Haley also said she wanted Mr Roof tried on state charges in South Carolina rather than federal charges.
South Carolina is one of just five US states that does not have a hate crime law, which typically imposes additional penalties on crimes committed because of a victim's race, gender or sexual orientation.
Meanwhile, the White House said President Barack Obama believes the Confederate flag belongs in a museum.
A Confederate flag, symbolising southern states' secession from the United States over slavery during the Civil War, is currently flown on the grounds of the South Carolina state Capitol.
