Charleston shooter confesses he ‘wanted to start a race war’

Charleston

The 21-year-old white man suspected of shooting nine people at a historic black church in South Carolina has confessed the crime, US media reported today.

The alleged shooter Dylann Roof told investigators that he "wanted to start a race war" when he opened fire at the Bible study class in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.

 The incident took place on Wednesday night and all the victims were black.

 Roof -- who was arrested in North Carolina on Thursday and brought back to South Carolina after he opted not to fight extradition -- was due in court later today for a bond hearing. 

"We are getting cooperation at this point," another official told local ABC affiliate WCIV.

Two sources also confirmed to NBC News that Roof -- whose Facebook page includes a picture of him wearing the flags of defunct white supremacist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia -- has confessed.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said today she believed Roof should face the death penalty if convicted. Capital punishment is legal in the southern state.

"We will absolutely want him to have the death penalty. This is the worst hate that I've seen and the country has seen in a long time," she said.