roof, the lead suspect in wednesday's mass shooting at a historic black church in charleston, made his appearance remotely, dressed in striped inmates' garb and flanked by two officers. on the screen, he wore a stoic expression as he looked out over the bond hearing. representatives of the victims were in the courtroom, and got to look into roof's eyes as they forgave him, one by one.









"i forgive you," nadine collier, daughter of victim ethel lance, said to roof. "i will never talk to her ever again, never be able to hold her again. i forgive you and have mercy on your soul. you hurt me, you hurt a lot of people, but i forgive you."









"hate won<u+2019>t win,<u+201d> she said. "my grandfather and the other victims died at the hands of hate. everyone<u+2019>s plea for your soul is proof that they lived in love and their legacies live in love."









the judge asked roof whether he understood the charges against him, noting that his next two hearings would take place on oct. 23 and feb. 5.









prior to the hearing, a spokesman with the charleston county sheriff's office told the huffington post that roof is on suicide watch and that his family won't be able to visit him for his first 72 hours in jail. but he said that as far as he knew, roof's family hasn't yet tried to contact the suspect, who is accused of shooting nine people dead at the emanuel african methodist episcopal church in charleston on wednesday.









the charleston police department announced roof's charges, which include possession of a firearm, on twitter just hours before the hearing. the department confirmed that roof won't get bond for the murder charges:









<u+201c>this is a state that is hurt by the fact that nine people innocently were killed,<u+201d> haley told the paper, adding that the state <u+201c>absolutely will want him to have the death penalty.<u+201d>









later on friday, the fbi announced that it will look into the murders as a potential act of "domestic terrorism" as part of its investigation.









roof was arrested on thursday after a florist in kings mountain, north carolina, noticed his vehicle, followed him and called police. he was collared in shelby, north carolina, more than 200 miles from charleston.
families to roof: 'i forgive you, and have mercy on your soul'
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