Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that "our sense of security and well-being has been robbed and shaken" after the horrific shooting Wednesday night at a historic African-American church in Charleston.
"Our prayers are with the families of the victims and the people of Charleston. We are all heartbroken by this tragedy," Graham, a 2016 GOP presidential hopeful, said in a statement he released Thursday.
The gunman suspected of shooting nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal was identified as 21-year-old Dylann Roof.
Roof was captured Thursday after an hourslong manhunt, reportedly in a town in neighboring North Carolina, Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen said,
The New York Times reported.
Roof, according to Reuters, was given the gun by his father for his 21st birthday in April.
The FBI is investigating the attack as a
hate crime.
"There are bad people in this world who are motivated by hate. Every decent person has been victimized by the hateful, callous disregard for human life shown by the individual who perpetrated these horrible acts," Graham said in the statement.
"I pray that God will provide you healing in the coming days."
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