Police had been hunting for 21-year-old Dylann Roof from Lexington, South Carolina.
Dylann Roof
The suspect's uncle has told local media he gave him a gun as a birthday present in
Officers said they were treating the mass shooting at Emmanuel AME church in Charleston as a hate crime.
One of the people killed was the church's senior pastor, Revd Clementa Pinckney, 41, who had a wife and two children.
Speaking in response to the attack, Charleston mayor Jospeh Riley said: "The only reason that someone could walk into a church and shoot people praying is out of hate.
"It is the most dastardly act that one could possibly imagine, and we will bring that person to justice. This is one hateful person."
Shortly after the shooting, as media gathered, a group of pastors were said to have huddled together in a circle across the street to pray.
Governor Nikki Haley has released a statement calling on South Carolinians to pray for the victims and their families. She said: "While we do not yet know all of the details, we do know that we'll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another."
Pastor Alicia Rogers is from Bethel Grace Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
She told Premier's News Hour the community is in shock and praying for those affected: "We pray for their peace, pray for their salvation that the great Prince of Peace will come upon them to comfort them... and give them strength to rise above this."
She said it had not changed her going to church or preaching: "I go in with the power of God, and knowing I'm protected as Psalm 91 says, I choose to live in faith and not in fear.
"We can't live by fear of what we see."
She added that the it has been reported he was inside the church: "We just heard on the news this morning that he actually went in and sat in the service for about an hour, I'm assuming searching for something.
"We can't know his intentions from the start as he went in, but I would like to believe he was searching for something Christians provide in a church, something God provides."
Also speaking in response to the shooting, Dr Joe Aldred from Churches Together told Premier he wasn't shocked when waking up to the news. He said: "I was not exactly shocked, [I felt] resigned and feelings of sadness for the families concerned.
"But in an age of mass beheadings and other atrocities in the world, I'm afraid this comes as yet another reminder of what a dangerous world we live in."
Dr Aldred also called on Christians to be more vigilant when meeting together. He said: "I would encourage people, not just in that part of the world but here in the UK, to be vigilant.
"You virtually have now got to pray with one eye open as it were.
"I don't think that security has a sufficiently high importance on our agenda and I think it needs to do so."
Listen to Premier's Marcus Jones speak to Pastor Alicia Rogers here:
Listen to Dr Joe Aldred speaking to Premier's Aaron James here:
