BOSTON — State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg issued the following statement today about the shooting Wednesday evening in Charleston, South Carolina:

"Today our hearts ache with deep pain for the victims killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. This cowardly act of violence, in a house of worship, is starkly at odds with the very spirit that defines and built our nation -- a spirit of diversity, tolerance and equality. My condolences and prayers go out to those families who lost loved ones and to the people of Charleston, as we all struggle to make sense of this incomprehensible crime."