Yesterday afternoon, relatives of those victims confronted the shooter to tell him that they forgive him. Much more on that in just a moment. Were also on the show going to be tackling the controversy of whether South Carolina should still be flying the Confederate Flag. Americans more divided on that question than you might think. Plus turning away from the tragedy for a bit, its also been a vang week in the world of politics, one that has the potential to have Lasting Impact on the race for president. Well be getting into that later in the show. But, we begin this morning in South Carolina. That is where thousands of people gathered at an arena in charleston last night to remember those nine victims shot and killed inside of a church on wednesday night. We all have one thing in common common, our hearts are broken. That service capping an emotional day in charleston a day in which the gunman in that shooting dylann roof appeared in court via satellite for the first time. Roof appearing a Video Conference actually. He was formally charged with nine counts of murder. Hes being held on 1 million bond on a separate gun charge, not due to appear in court again until october now. Authorities say that roof confessed to the killings shortly after being arrested on thursday in north carolina. Sources telling nbc news he told police he almost didnt go through with the shooting because everyone at the church was so nice to him. Ultimately he did decide to go through with the shooting. Chief prosecutor in Charleston County says he wants to talk to the victims family and review the evidence before deciding whether to seek the death penalty. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called witnesss attack a hate crime and says shes already made up her mind. We absolutely will want him to have the death penalty. This is the worst hate this country has seen in a long time. We will fight this as hard as we can. We have two reporters live in charleston. Adam reiss is outside the Emanuel Ame Church. We start by going to tremaine lee at the Charleston County detention center. Thats where dylann roof is being held. Tremaine, yesterday we got our formal proceedings involving dylann roof. What does the road forward look like from here . Reporter legally speaking, this is just the beginning. Judge set a 1 million bond on the gun charge, but didnt have authority for setting bail. Dylann appeared via closed circuit television. For the first time we heard the Family Members of his victims speak. They spoke of great pain and anguish saying they welcomed him into their church for bible study, he took from them so much more than they could ever get back. For the first time we saw the outpouring of grief from the family. Dylann roofs family releasing a statement saying they are shocked and saddened by what happened. As the community is reeling, dylann roof will begin the process. Still this community is piecing together slowly everything that dylann roof has taken from them. Adam reese outside the church, in terms of what the reaction is, can you set the scene for what last night was lack, what we can expect today and weekend . Reporter its a lot more of vigils funerals, more mourning. Were seeing a steady stream of people coming by the church to pay respects. A lot of emotion here. I want to also tell you about the arrest warrant. Were learning he walked into the church behind me with a fanny pack. He sat with the Bible Study Group, right next to pastor pinckney. After about an hour he stood up opened fire hitting the victims multiple times. On his way out he stood over one of the surviving victims and uttered some sort of racist comment. Were learning the pastors wife and youngest daughter were in the Church Office at the time. They could hear the shooting and called 911. The 911 operator told them to stay inside. Finally it was the father and uncle of dylann roof who called police and identified him in the photo and said that is dim landn roof and he has a 45 caliber handgun. Thanks to adam reiss and trymaine lee. Many victim families have been able to find forgiveness toward the gunman. They addressed him directly during his appearance in court yesterday. You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people. But god for gives you and i forgive you. You have killed some of the most beautifulest people i know. Every fiber in my body hurts and ill never be the same. But as we say in bible study, we enjoyed you but may god have mercy on you. We are the family that love built. We have no room for hate so we have to for give. I pray god on your soul. Were joined by the reverend stephen singleton, senior minister at grace heritage ministries. He was a pastor at Emanuel Ame Church from 2006 to 2010. Reverend, thank you for taking some time this morning. That scene yesterday, i got to watch that live on television yesterday afternoon. People who havent seen that i encourage you to watch the whole thing. Its extraordinary. One Family Member after another from these victims families getting up and speaking of mercy, of love and forgiveness. Mie reaction and the reaction of so many people watching this yesterday, it was inspiring in a way, but also unfathomable in a way, imaging ourself in a situation like that not being able to summon those kinds of emotions emotions. I was so proud of them yesterday. They led with their faith. We have a passage in the bible that says nothing shall separate us from the love of god. They lived that yesterday. They proved to the world that nothing can separate us from his love and i think they made a statement for the ages for the world and for the faith we profess. I felt like a proud father. I knew all the voices that were speaking. I was just happy. Im so grateful that they were able to hold on to their faith. It doesnt matter what we say or do now. We cant change what happened on wednesday night. Im just happy for the faith, and im happy they held on to their faith. The other extraordinary thing about that scene yesterday is the shooter, he has to listen and he has to watch. He has to listen and watch as these Family Members step forward and say these things. What do you hope he heard . What do you hope he took from that yesterday . I hope he learned that everybody e who may feel the way he feels, i hope they learn that they are agents of hate but they cannot overpower the ambassadors for love. I hope that he understands now that what he did was horribly wrong, that he attacked some wonderful people with wonderful families. And if they want to change the world, they need to change it in a positive direction. Hatred never wins. Love always wins in the end. Adam reiss was reporting more of the details from what happened wednesday night. This is a church you know very well having worked there in the past. Im wondering about an event like this. It looks like a relatively small group, a Bible Study Group, a close knit group. This guy shows up never been there before fanny pack walks in prays with them for an hour. Is this something thats common at a session like that somebody who the group doesnt know showing up and saying i want to pray with you tonight, or was that a warning flag maybe in a way . No it is very very common for strangers to walk into mother emanuel. That church is known internationally because of its history. We have people from all over the world that drop in at emanuel, and regardless of whats going on, they join in. I understand i can picture in my mind how welcoming they were. The people who were in that room that night were some of the most wonderful people youll ever want to meet. I know they showed him kindness. They welcomed him, and his presence was not unusual. Strangers are joining them at all times, and i wish that he had listened to the voice of god. Because unofficially he said that he gave it a Second Thought before he carried out his plan. And i believe that that was gods voice talking to him and he just didnt listen. I wonder reverend how this will affect you and your fellow pastors out there Going Forward. That just sort of that atmosphere of openness youre describing at that church and other churches when somebody takes advantage of it like that to commit something as horrible as this. Does that change your thinking . Does that change your approach towards having a Bible Study Group like that or just having such an open door policy in the future . I think that well definitely give it some thought. I think my colleagues and other congregations and, of course that one we will have some discussions. Well talk about it. But i do know that the kingdom has to remain open. The kingdom will always be open to others. So well deal with it accordingly. I have an event at my church this morning. Ive already gotten a couple of calls about that as to how were going to approach it. But were open to gods people and we have to do that. But im sure well be very very aware of new faces. But we have to welcome them in any way. Reverend stephen singleton, thank you for taking a few minutes this morning. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. God bless. Well have much more ahead this morning from charleston, also from the world of politics. Before we get to that weve heard a lot in recent days about the reverend Clementa Pinckney the pastor who was killed on wednesday. A state senator, someone president obama himself knew among the nine people shot and killed during bible study. Now were learning more about the other victims of wednesday nights massacre people like sharonda colemansingleton, reverend at the church. 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The passat tdi clean diesel with up to 814 hwy miles per tank. Hurry in and you can get 0 apr plus a onethousand dollar volkswagen credit bonus on 2015 passat tdi clean diesel models. My name is marcus jenkins. Im a lineman here in oakland. Day in, day out, a large part of what we do is about providing reliable power to our customers. Pg e is dedicated to the community. I love working here because this is my home. Oakland is my home. This is where im raising my children so its important to me to make sure my family and friends have the power and energy that we provide. This is very personal to me. It makes me work a lot harder knowing that this is my community. Together, were building a better california. As much as we grieve this particular tragedy, i think its important, as i mentioned at the white house, to step back and recognize, these tragedies have become far too commonplace. President obama last night making reference to charleston and other frequent incidents of Mass Violence in this country, what he termed this week a uniquely american phenomenon. Ive had to make statements like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times. The scene has been all too familiar, the president of the United States stepping into the White House Briefing room and addressing a mass shooting. After newtown. Each time i learn the news i react not as a president , but as anybody else would, as a parent. After aurora. My daughters go to the movies. What if malia and sasha had been in the theater. As so many of our kids do every day. After tucson. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you for your grief. President obama commenting in the wake of Mass Shootings at least 14 times since he took office. The country has to do some soul searching about this. This is becoming the norm and we take it for granted in ways that, as a parent are tire phiing to me. The statistics backing up the president data shows that Mass Shootings have become more frequent. In the last two years a mass shooting occurring on average every 64 days. While in the previous three decades that average was every 200 days. So why does this keep happening . Have we become immune to the scenes of grief and destruction . What can we do what can anyone do to stop it . Lets be clear. At some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of Mass Violence doesnt happen in other advanced countries. It doesnt happen in other places with this kind of frequency frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now now, but it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it. Joining me to talk more about what the president had to say, alvin tillery, associate professor of Political Science at northwestern university. Thank you for joining us. I want to say, first of all, guns are a big part of this discussion, a discussion well have later in a segment in the show. For now i want to move this away from the issue of guns and talk more about the president s role here when these Mass Shootings, when these episodes of Mass Violence happen. This is 14 times now. And when we go back and look at the saep we just showed there, it almost seems as if hes running out of things to say. What is the role of the president in moments like this, do you think . The presidency is an awesome responsibility, as you know steve. We often comment about how significantly president s age over the course of their terms and we tend to sort of thing about that in terms of the politics theyre dealing with International Crises national security. Frankly, its the weight of baring the responsibility for being the sort of mournerinchief for the nation thats also a real part of that. I feel for president bauchl and anyone who has had the responsibility that he has had. This partly evenings plains why former president s across the partisan divide often have a level of intimacy that we think would be abnormal in their political careers. Its because former president s can relate to the sort of incredible weight that such incidents take on the office and on the man thats holding the office. Is there a lesson here we always talk about cliche is the power of the presidency. Part of the power of the presidency is the bully pulpit. Its striking for me to go back and look at the tape after all these previous incidents where the president comes out and tries to console the nation but also to try to change the tone. It seems hes struggling to find words that might change the tone to prevent Something Like this from happening in the future. It keeps happening. In a way is there a lesson about the power or the lack thereof of the bully pulpit . President ial scholars often refer to the presidency as having real negative powers. The real power of the presidency is the power to nullify laws from congress that he or she doesnt like. But the bully pulpit is supposed to be about mobilizing us around ideas, a vision of who we are as a nation. Its clear in all 14 of these instances president obama has tried to mobilize us through the bully pulpit. The problem is were in an era, steve, of hyperpolarization, post citizen united post mccutchen world where money groups have tremendous influence. The level of resignation of president obama expressed that despite the fact this keeps happening, he will not be able to make the changes that he believes are necessary through gun reform because of, as he called it the politics of the town, washington, d. C. That must be a sort of incredible sense of frustration for president obama and any president. He says, the words there in one of these clips was this is becoming the norm. We put those statistics up. The number of or the frequency of Mass Shootings, the frequencies of Mass Violence does seem to be something thats increased markedly in the last generation, in the last decade during his presidency. Its something no president in a way has had to deal with on this scale before. I think starting with president bush we do see president george w. Bush, we see an up take in these Mass Shootings. Theres got to be a correlation between the expiration of the assault weapons ban in 2004. People say, oh there were Mass Shootings before that but Gun Technology has changed significantly in the last 30 years. So that coupled with the expiration of the assault weapons ban, its mass chaos with these shootings. Subsequent president s will have to deal with this sadly in a way that president obama and president bush have had to deal with unless we change as a culture and unless we change our laws. Thats sort of pretty clear by the data. All right. Like i said we will be getting into that question of guns that debate over guns a little later in the show. For now thank you alvin tillery, professor at northwestern university. Thank you. We will have much more from charleston including how some president ial candidates are reacting. First we want to talk to you about Depayne Middleton doctor a minister who loved to sing. One Family Member calling her her beautiful song bird.