A federal grand jury on Thursday handed down hate crime charges against a white man who the authorities say shot and killed two black grandparents at a Kroger supermarket in Kentucky last month.

“There is no place, no place, for hate-fueled violence in this community and no place in this commonwealth,” Russell M. Coleman, the United States attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, said at a Thursday afternoon news conference.

The six-count indictment against the suspect, Gregory Bush, 51, of Louisville, Ky., included two counts of shooting or killing a victim based on race or color and one count of attempting to shoot or kill a victim based on race or color. The remaining charges were for firearm-related offenses. The grand jury in Louisville returned the indictment midafternoon.

“Cutting through the legal jargon, we have three federal hate crimes, three what you would refer to as federal firearms offenses or ‘gun crimes,’” Mr. Coleman said.