1st LD: Suspect of South Carolina "hate crime" shooting caught: police

The white gunman suspected of killing nine African-Americans in a "hate crime" shooting in the southeastern U.S. city of Charleston was caught on Thursday, South Carolina law enforcement said.

Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man of Lexington, South Carolina, was caught in Shelby, North Carolina during traffic stop, Charleston police chief Gregory Mullen said at a press briefing.

"We have a lot more investigation to do to find out why this happened," said Mullen.

The U.S. Justice Department has already opened a "hate crime" investigation into the incident that happened Wednesday night at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the most prominent black churches in the United States, local media reported.

Nine people, all black, were killed in the shooting spree and local media report quoted a female survivor as saying that the shooter told her he let her live to tell everyone else what happened.

According to the U.S. TV network CNN, a law enforcement official said witnesses told the police that the suspect said he was at the church "to shoot black people."

"The only reason someone could walk into church and shoot people praying is out of hate," said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley during a press conference on Wednesday night.

Built in 1891, the church has one of the largest black congregations in the region, said the website for the church. Endite