SHELBY — Shelby police escorted Dylann Roof from headquarters to the Cleveland County Courthouse Thursday afternoon for his first appearance.
Roof waived extradition, an attorney told Channel 9. The appearance was closed to everyone but law enforcement officials.
He was put in a car and transported to the Shelby Municipal Airport around 6 p.m. Multiple cars escorted him.
Roof was wearing a black and white striped prison uniform when police took him out of the vehicle. Officers threw off his bullet proof vest and checked Roof before he stepped on the plane.
The plane landed in Charleston around 7:20 p.m. Roof was taken to the Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston.
Roof is accused of walking into a Charleston church and opening fire during Bible study Wednesday night.
Nine people were killed. The shooting happened around 9 p.m. Police said Roof told one of the three survivors he let her live so she could tell others what he did.
STORY: Charleston church shooting victims' biographies
Roof was 'big into segregation,' roommate says
Roof's roommate told ABC News he is extremely racist and had planned this attack for six months.
Dalton Tyler, who said he has known Roof for seven months to one year, said he saw the suspect just last week.
"He was big into segregation and other stuff," Tyler told ABC News. "He said he wanted to start a civil war. He said he was going to do something like that and then kill himself."
Tyler said he met Roof through a good friend. He also said Roof's parents, with whom he said the suspect was "on and off," had previously bought him a gun but never allowed him to take it with him until this past week.
Roof's grandfather declined to comment to ABC News.
Suspect stopped at Charlotte gas station before 6 a.m.
Investigators said they were able to close in on Roof’s whereabouts after he used his debit card at a gas station in south Charlotte.
Officials said Roof stopped at the Shell Gas Station off Interstate 485 near Providence Road before 6 a.m. The gas station sits next to the popular Promenade Shopping Center.
The clerk who waited on Roof was stunned when Channel 9 talked to her. She said she did not recognize Roof because she had not heard the news about the shootings in Charleston. The clerk said he was polite as he bought a bag of chips and a drink. He then left the store.
The FBI saw the activity on Roof's debit card and came to the store after 8 a.m. to pick up surveillance video. There was a surveillance camera on the inside and outside of the store.
Roof spotted in Kings Mountain
Debbie Dills spotted Roof's car on her way to work Thursday morning. She works for Frady's Florist and Gifts in Kings Mountain.
When Dills got to work she told her boss, Todd Frady, that she spotted the vehicle.
"I'm telling you divine intervention, I'm telling you God had me where I needed to be," Dills said. "I'm not going to tell you I wasn't afraid, I was scared now. I was scared," Dills said.
Frady called a friend with the Kings Mountain Police Department. Dills went back outside and followed the car.
"I got right behind him and he didn't seem to be nervous by me or whatever, and I'm just praying that he didn't see my car the other times, and I was able to write down his tag number," she said.
As Frady was on the phone with police, authorities pulled Roof over.
"While I heard all of 'em on the phone, I heard sirens going," Frady said. "And then she started hollering, saying, you know, 'They got him!'"
Dill said while she was scared, she felt the day was out of her hands. She hopes it will bring peace to those mourning the lives lost.
"And if it gives those people there any kind of comfort to know that they don't have to worry about that anymore, that part of it," an emotional Dills told Channel 9. "Now they can start on the healing and getting their lives back together."
Another man called 911 after spotting Roof by his haircut.
911 CALL: Man calls 911 after recognizing Charleston shooting suspect's distinct haircut
Details on Roof's arrest
The Shelby Police Department received a call from the Kings Mountain Police Department at 10:32 a.m. about the possible sighting.
At 10:43 a.m., officers spotted Roof's vehicle on Dixon Boulevard. He was pulled over at 10:44 a.m. Roof was the only person in the car. He was taken into custody at 10:49 a.m. and taken to the Shelby Police Department.
The FBI and Charleston police officials traveled to Shelby. Roof was escorted out of the Shelby Police Department in a bulletproof vest just before 4 p.m. Thursday to face a judge.