06/18/2015 AT 11:15 AM EDT  Jeb Bush has called off a planned campaign appearance in Charleston, South Carolina, Thursday and is instead sending prayers to the  , 21, shot and killed nine people after sitting in on a prayer meeting at the  Bush, the Republican former governor of Florida who  this week, was just one of several 2016 candidates to join the outpouring of condolences and horror over the Wednesday night attack on Bible-study students.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families affected by the tragic events in Charleston.  Bush was to appear Thursday at the Charleston Maritime Center as part of his kickoff tour of early-primary states that are seeing a lot of candidates in advance of 2016 voting.  Earlier on Wednesday, before the vicious attack on Charleston's historic black church, Democrat  spoke at Trident Technical College in North Charleston about income inequality. Within hours, her message to the people of South Carolina took a somber turn:  Heartbreaking news from Charleston - my thoughts and prayers are with you all. -H  Rand Paul, the candidate who's also the junior U.S. senator from Kentucky, also weighed in:  Kelley and I are praying for everyone affected by this senseless tragedy in Charleston.  And former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, released a statement saying churches are supposed to be sanctuaries – places "of refuge and respite from the earthly [that] connect us to the heavenly."  "The Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., became a scene of unspeakable carnage because an evil person violated the sanctuary where earth and heaven meet and turned it into a place where earth and hell meet. ... All Americans join in the condemnation of this act, but for Christians, such horror is especially painful because a holy place for peace and prayer has been infected and desecrated by demonic violence. The prayers that were interrupted by a mass murderer will be continued by a grieving nation."
Bush, Hillary Clinton and the pack take to Twitter to send prayers to the victims of the church shooting