Children of Charleston shooting victim forgives killer

Charleston

The children of a victim of the Charleston church massacre said they have forgiven their mother's killer.

Camryn and Chris Singleton, whose mother Sharonda Coleman-Singleton was one of nine people shot dead at a bible study group at Emanuel AME Church on Wednesday, spoke out during a vigil at the school where she had taught.

Their incredible interview came as new pictures emerged of suspect Dylann Storm Roof in chains, smirking as he left a police station in Shelby, North Carolina before he was put on a plane back to South Carolina where the tragedy took place 

Speaking at Goose Creek High - where mother-of-three Sharonda, 45, worked as a girls athletics coach - her teenage son Chris said: 'We already forgive him for what he's done, and there's nothing but love from our side of the family', the BBC reports.

His sister Camryn added: 'I just feel a lot of love. I'm a little bitter, but I'm overwhelmed with love.'

In an Instagram post, shared on Twitter, Chris paid tribute to his mother.

He wrote: 'You were a better mother than I could have ever asked for.

'This has truly broken my heart in every way possible, but I know I have to stay strong for my little brother and sister. 

Sharonda worked as a girls athletics coach and was also a minister on staff at the Emanuel AME Church

'I thank everyone for your prayers and thoughts, but I'm positive this strong woman is in a better place now.

'Keep my family in your prayers as we continue with this horrid grieving process.'

Sharonda was a minister on staff at the Emanuel AME Church, where Roof reportedly sat with the weekly bible study group for an hour before he opened fire. 

It is alleged he reloaded his gun five times during the shooting spree that killed three women and six males, including Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who is also a South Carolina state senator.

Survivor Sylvia Johnson, Pinckney's cousin, told NBC News that she had pleaded with him to stop shooting.

Dylann Storm Roof held court papers in his cuffed hands as a police officer held him by a chain. A survivor of the attack Sylvia Johnson narrated what Roof said at the time of attack

'He just said: ‘I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country. And you have to go.’

Roof spared one woman so she could 'tell the world what happened', eye witnesses recounted, while a five-year-old girl also survived the attack after her grandmother told her to play dead.

Roof was arrested before noon on Thursday in Shelby, 250 miles away from the church where the attack took place, and is now in custody.