US Vice President Joe Biden worshipped and spoke at the Sunday service of the African-American church where nine people were gunned down during Bible study.
The vice president's surprise appearance came on the second Sunday the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church held regular services following the June 17 shooting.
Police say the attack was racially motived and have charged a 21-year-old white man.
Biden said he'd visited Emanuel before and knew the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of the church who was among those killed.
"We came back because my family and I wanted to show solidarity with the families and with the church," said Biden, wearing a purple tie, a traditional colour of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Biden, a Catholic, showed the congregation the rosary beads he wore around his wrist and spoke about the feeling of loss within his own life.
The vice president's son, Beau, died late last month of brain cancer.
Beau Biden narrowly avoided death as a young boy in a 1972 car crash that killed Joe Biden's first wife and baby daughter.
"The reason I came was to draw strength from all of you," Biden said.
"I wish I could say something that would ease the pain."
Biden received a standing ovation after reading a selection of scripture. He later joined the congregation in holding hands and singing, We Shall Overcome.
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