New Charges in Charleston church schooting : Attempted murder

 Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Protesters hold signs as they chant during a rally to take down the Confederate flag at the South Carolina Statehouse, Tuesday, June 23, 2015, in Columbia, S.C. The shooting deaths of nine people at a black church in Charleston, S.C, have reignited calls for the Confederate flag flying on the grounds of the Statehouse in Columbia to come down. Rallies are being held, and politicians have joined the chorus of voices calling for its removal  , an opinion that has carried political risks in the state in the past. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)

COLUMBIA, SC - JUNE 23: Asha Jones attends a protest in support of a Confederate flags removal from the South Carolina capitol grounds on June 23, 2015 in Columbia, South Carolina. The South Carolina governor Nikki Haley asked that the flag be removed after debate over the flag flying on the capitol grounds was kicked off after nine people were shot and killed during a prayer meeting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- 

The man accused of killing nine people attending Bible study at a historic black church in Charleston has been indicted on three new charges of attempted murder, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Dylann Storm Roof, 21, already had been charged with nine counts of murder, one for each person killed in the June 17 attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church. He also faces a weapons charge, and has been indicted on that charge and the murder counts.

Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said in a statement that the new attempted-murder charges stem from survivors of the massacre.

Roof's defense attorney did not immediately return a message. Roof's next court date is expected in October.

The court records released Tuesday show that Roof is accused of trying to kill three females, one of whom is a minor.

Federal authorities have not said whether they will pursue hate crime charges against Roof, although Justice Department officials have said they broadly agree the shootings meet the legal requirements for a hate crime.

The new charges comes as South Carolina state lawmakers move closer toward possibly removing the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds. Roof, who is white, appeared in photos waving Confederate flags and burning or desecrating U.S. flags, and purportedly wrote of fomenting racial violence. Survivors told police he hurled racial insults during the attack.

After Roof's arrest, Republicans including Gov. Nikki Haley and both of the state's U.S. senators called for the flag's removal. The massacre made taking down the flag - long thought politically impossible in South Carolina - the new go-to position, even for conservative politicians.

State senators gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would remove the flag. That sends the proposal to the House, where it faces a less certain future.

Let's hear from our in-house expert :Mr. Humble:

The entire thing is horribly sad. I think the attitudes of racist people like Roof is a much worse problem than the flag, but I too am uncomfortable with the Rebel flag as an official state flag. Doesn't really represent what the modern South should stand for. That flag represented a South which for the most part supported slavery and segregation and wanted to separate themselves from the rest of the United States. Very sad indeed. Having it in a museum or something like that I'm fine with , but lets update the Southern state flags and let the Rebel flag fade into history ....

People like Roof need to be dealt with severely! I do 'NOT' support capital punishment but if I were to change my views on that, I definitely would put him first in line!

I see the flag as a flag of a defeated nation. We do not fly the flags of  'England, Spain, or France' as we defeated them. The Confederacy was a gang of thugs who started a war to be allowed to continue the brutal practice of slavery. It is a part of the heritage of America just not a part to be proud of having.

The flag represents the vile acts of treason committed by a group of low slave owners who got their butts whipped but good. Get over it. The south lost. Nothing to be proud about here. It is a flag of shame. Calling it anything else is pure stupidity.

Just my humble opinion