Charleston, South Carolina (CNN)[Latest developments]

• The person who shot and killed nine people at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church was there for about an hour, attending a meeting with the eventual victims, before he began shooting, Charleston police Chief Greg Mullen said Thursday morning.

• There were three survivors in Wednesday evening's shooting, Mullen said without elaborating.

• "This is a situation that is unacceptable in any society, and especially in our society and our city," he said.

• Of the nine people killed, six were female and three were male.

• The suspect is in his early 20s and stands 5 feet, 9 inches tall. "He has on a very distinctive sweatshirt as well as the vehicle, with a very distinctive license plate," the police chief said.

• Police say they think he is still in the Charleston area.

[Full story]

A white man walked into a historic African-American church in Charleston and opened fire during a Bible study class, killing nine people Wednesday evening.

The gunman was still at large early Thursday. And the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest AME church in the South, is being investigated as a hate crime.