Police lead suspected shooter Dylann Roof, 21, into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina, June 18, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

Dylann Roof has been charged with nine counts of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime in connection with the South Carolina church shooting, Charleston police said in a Twitter post on Friday.

Roof's bond hearing will take place at 2 pm on Friday, the police post said.

Roof, a 21-year-old with a criminal record, is accused of killing nine people at a Bible-study meeting in a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, in an attack US officials are investigating as a hate crime.