The FBI has identified the 21-year-old suspected of shooting 9 people in South Carolina

The FBI has identified the suspected gunman who shot nine people in a South Carolina church Wednesday night as 21-year-old Dylann Roof, from Columbia, South Carolina, Reuters reports.

Roof was identified by his uncle from a photo released by police, according to Reuters. The suspected shooter reportedly received a gun from his uncle as a birthday present in April, the uncle said.

The shooting is currently being investigated as a hate crime, according to local authorities. The gunman reportedly sat in a prayer meeting at the historically black Emanuel AME Church for an hour before opening fire.

Here was the scene in Charleston Wednesday night:

Images are beginning to emerge of Roof taken from an alleged Facebook page:

Charleston police spokesman Charles Francis said Wednesday night that the police were looking for a "white male in a gray sweatshirt/hoodie and jeans." Surveillance video reportedly caught Roof and his vehicle on camera:

WCSC-TV reports the shooting happened while a meeting and a Bible-study service were taking place at the church. Six of the victims were female and three were male, authorities said at a press conference Thursday morning.