Dylann Roof, the man who has confessed to killing nine parishioners last month in Charleston, will be charged with a federal hate crime, according to an official close to the case.
The Associated Press reported that a grand jury would indict Mr Roof in a move that has been pending since the 17 June shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr Roof, who is white, is charged with killing nine black church-goers after sitting with them in Bible study for about an hour.
Mr Roof already has been charged with nine counts of murder in South Carolina, but the federal hate crime charge - if he is convicted - would intensify punishment.
State prosecutors have not said whether they will pursue the death penalty in this case.
Federal officials have already indicated the hate crime charge was likely to be levied. Survivors of the shooting say that Mr Roof used racial insults during the massacre.
He also has since surfaced in a number of photos wearing white-supremacist patches on his clothing and waving the Confederate flag.
Follow @PaytonGuion on Twitter.
