Story highlights Federal grand jury returns an indictment on 33 counts, including hate crime and firearms charges

Attorney general: "Racially motivated violence such as this is the original domestic terrorism"

Accused shooter Dylann Roof also faces state charges and could face the death penalty

(CNN) The accused Charleston church shooter now faces federal hate crime charges for allegedly targeting his victims on the basis of their race and religion.

"We think that this is exactly the type of case that the federal hate crimes statutes were, in fact, conceived of to cover," U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday as she announced that a federal grand jury had indicted Dylann Roof. "Racially motivated violence such as this is the original domestic terrorism."

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The grand jury's indictment charges Roof with 33 counts, including federal hate crime and firearms charges, Lynch said.

South Carolina does not have a hate crime law, Lynch said. Roof, 21, already faces a number of state charges in connection with the June 17 Bible study attack at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Nine people were killed, including the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who also was a state senator.

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