The suspect in the mass shooting of nine church leaders at Bible study in one of America’s oldest black congregations has confessed to carrying out the attack, according to media reports.

CNN is reporting that it has been told by two law enforcement officials that Dylann Roof has told authorities that he was the shooter. NBC reported the same. The Guardian cannot confirm this.

According to the CNN account, the 21-year-old resident of Columbia, South Carolina, said that his motive had been that he wanted to start a race war.

Roof is being held at the Al Cannon detention center in North Charleston.

He is expected to appear in court on Friday at a bail hearing, and is expected to be charged with nine counts of murder, one for each of his African American victims.

Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, told NBC News on Friday that she wanted Roof to face a capital prosecution. “We will absolutely want him to have the death penalty,” she said.

Authorities said that Roof was being kept in isolation away from other people at the jail. He was also being kept on suicide watch for his own protection, they said.

New questions were also emerging about how Roof acquired the firearm that he allegedly used in the attack at the historic African American Emanuel AME church.

Relatives have indicated that he was given a Glock handgun by his father in April as a birthday present, but CNN law enforcement officials familiar with the details said that he had told officers that he bought a gun recently from a gun shop. The Guardian