CHARLESTON, S.C. — Hours after hearing words of forgiveness from some of his victims’ loved ones, Dylann Roof sat in his cell on suicide watch.

Wearing a striped inmate jumpsuit, the 21-year-old appeared Friday afternoon by video feed at a bond hearing in Charleston, South Carolina. He stood motionless, a blank expression on his face, as he listened to the anguished words of relatives of the nine people he gunned down Wednesday night at a Bible study class at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you,” a daughter of victim Ethel Lance said. “And have mercy on your soul. You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people but God forgives you, and I forgive you.”

Felecia Sanders — mother of victim Tywanza Sanders and a survivor of the church shooting — said that “every fiber in my body hurts, and I will never be the same.”

“As we said in the Bible study, we enjoyed you,” she said of Roof. “But may God have mercy on you.”

The families’ words prompted a reaction from President Barack Obama.

“In the midst of darkest tragedy, the decency and goodness of the American people shines through in these families,” Obama said on Twitter.

While the nation rallies behind Charleston, an insight into Roof’s state of mind came Saturday from Charleston County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Maj. Eric Watson.

Roof, he said, “is in protective custody. He is currently sitting on his bed being monitored by two detention officers. He is on suicide watch.”

Roof’s family speaks for first time

Roof’s relatives spoke out for the first time in a statement Friday, extending their “deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims.”

“Words cannot express our shock, grief and disbelief as to what happened that night. We are devastated and saddened by what occurred. We offer our prayers sympathy for all of those impacted by these events,” the statement says. It asks for privacy for the Roof family.

Roof barely spoke at the hearing, answering the judge’s questions about his unemployment with a “yes, sir” and “no, sir.”

In the video feed, Roof could hear, but not see, people in the courtroom. People in the courtroom could see and hear Roof.

Magistrate James B. Gosnell Jr. set bail at $1 million on a weapons possession charge. A circuit judge will hold a bond hearing later on the nine murder charges, but it’s unlikely Roof will be allowed to leave jail.

The suspect is being held in the North Charleston jail. Authorities didn’t want him to appear at the bond hearing in person for security reasons.

Roof may be prosecuted by federal authorities if it’s determined he committed a hate crime. The Justice Department said “it is looking at this crime from all angles, including as a hate crime and as an act of domestic terrorism.”

See ongoing church shooting coverage

Roof admits he did it, sources say

Roof admits he shot and killed the people he’d sat with for Bible study at the historically black church, two law enforcement officials said.

He told investigators he did it to start a race war, according to one of the officials.

A friend recalled a drunken Roof ranting one night about his unspecified six-month plan “to do something crazy” in order “to start a race war.” And the Berkeley County, South Carolina, government tweeted a picture of Roof in a jacket with flags from apartheid-era South Africa and nearby Rhodesia, a former British colony that was ruled by a white minority until it became independent in 1980 and is now known as Zimbabwe.

By telling authorities his aim, Roof admitted he attacked unarmed civilians for political purposes in an act of terror.

He faces a long legal road ahead, one that could end in his execution if prosecutors seek a death sentence, according to South Carolina law. Gov. Nikki Haley has indicated that’s what she wants.

Friend: Roof wanted ‘white with white, and black with black’

How did Dylann Roof get to the point of being accused of one of the most hateful, violent race-related crimes in recent memory?

His uncle, Carson Cowles, told the Washington Post that Roof’s mother “never raised him to be like this.” Those who knew him, though, paint a picture of someone who has long voiced racist sentiments, even if they never anticipated he’d act on them like this.

John Mullins recalls “racist slurs in a sense” that Roof made while the two attended White Knoll High School in Lexington, South Carolina, though he also remembers him having black friends.

“He would say it just as a joke,” Mullins said. “I never took it seriously. But … maybe (I) should have.”

That sentiment was echoed by Joey Meek, who said that he hadn’t seen his old classmate for five years until the two became roommates about a month ago. He recalled Roof being quiet and keeping to himself since then, except for one night when he drank a liter of vodka and talked about his vague plans to start a race war.

“He wanted it to be white with white, and black with black,” Meek said, adding that he took Roof’s gun as a precaution that night only to put it back the next morning. “He had it in his mind, and he didn’t really let nobody know (what he was going to do).”

Meek said he told Roof then that he “didn’t agree with his opinion at all,” but he didn’t talk to authorities until Thursday, when he noticed surveillance photos and called a police hotline.

“Dylann wasn’t a serious person, no one took him serious,” Meek said. “But if someone had taken him serious, this all would all have been avoided.”

Officials: Suspect bought gun in April

It’s one thing to talk of stirring racial hatred, another to act on it to kill nine innocent people — including the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a state senator who had welcomed Roof into the Bible study session.

One key part of this horrific scheme — the weapon — came in April, when Roof bought a .45-caliber handgun at a Charleston gun store, the two law enforcement officials said, the first network to report this development. His grandfather says that Roof was given “birthday money” and that the family didn’t know what Roof did with it.

He apparently didn’t hint at his intentions when he went to the historic church Wednesday. A Snapchat video shows him at a table with a small group, not anything to suggest the carnage to come.

An arrest warrant says Roof entered the church at 8:06 p.m. wearing a fanny pack. “After approximately an hour of studying,” the warrant says, “the defendant stood up and with malice and aforethought pulled out a handgun and began shooting at the parishioners inside the hall striking nine victims. All victims were hit multiple times.”

From what Johnson heard, Roof reloaded his gun five times. Six women died at the scene, as did two men — with a third, the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., passing away later during surgery. Johnson said her friend played dead, lying in the blood of her slain son.

Before Roof left the church, he asked one of the elderly members whether he had shot her, and she said no.

“And he said, ‘Good, because we need a survivor because I’m going to kill myself,’ ” Johnson said

Woman spotted, followed suspect’s car

Roof then took off, hopping into his car and heading north.

Debbie Dills spotted a vehicle matching the description given by authorities, noticing the South Carolina license plate.

“I don’t know what drew my attention to the car,” Dills said. “In my mind I’m thinking, ‘That can’t be.’ … I never dreamed that it would be the car.”

She followed him more than 30 miles, keeping authorities updated along the way.

Police in Shelby, North Carolina — about 245 miles (395 kilometers) from Charleston — pulled him over and took him into custody. He waived extradition and returned to South Carolina late Thursday.

The Charleston Police Department also got help from Roof’s family. The arrest warrant says: “The father and the uncle of the defendant contacted CPD and positively identified the defendant and his vehicle as those they saw in the photographs. Further, the defendant’s father told investigators that his son owns a .45-caliber handgun.”

Federal authorities have opened a hate crime investigation into the shooting at the oldest AME church in the South, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Charleston’s mayor said that society should continue to talk about issues pertaining to race and try to educate people more, such as through an African-American history museum planned for a Charleston site where slaves used to land to be sold in the United States. But, he added, it may not be realistic to think you’ll be able to change the minds of all racists.

“There’s a lot of things we can do, in our country, to enhance the dialogue about race,” Riley said. “But to get (hateful thoughts) out of the minds of very evil people … is very difficult.”