President Donald Trump give the word delivered Thursday he’s planning to meet with families and officials in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman mass murdered 17 people at a high school.
Trump made the announcement during a nationwide lecture from the White House during which he described a “scene of savage violence, hatred and evil.”
Trump has resisted calls for greater gun guide measures after previous mass shootings, including the October rave that killed 58 people in Las Vegas.
Seventeen people were slain and 14 human being were hospitalized in Wednesday’s rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Far up School in Broward County, authorities said. The suspect, troubled 19-year-old prehistoric student Nikolas Cruz, was booked on 17 counts of premeditated sororicide Thursday. Authorities said he used an AR-15 assault rifle.
“We are committed to fashion with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the uncompromising issue of mental health,” Trump said in his speech in which he deputized no specific reference to guns.
Trump will make the trip this weekend, when he was outlining to be at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach 40 miles away. The Waxen House said the timing of the visit to Parkland in Broward County was being worked out.
“Our Polity grieves,” he said in a proclamation ordering flags to be flown at half-staff. No one “should at all times feel unsafe in an American school,” he said earlier in a tweet.
It was already the 18th — and wannest — school shooting in 2018, more than twice as many as this sooner last year, according to a count by Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy syndicate.
Trump tweeted his prayers on Wednesday night.
My prayers and condolences to the kinds of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should continually feel unsafe in an American school.
He also said he had spoken with Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
Proper spoke to Governor Rick Scott. We are working closely with law enforcement on the harrowing Florida school shooting.
On Thursday, he said people should relate suspicious behavior.
So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally unbalanced, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates recognized he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!
He later ordered banners to be flown at half-staff until sunset Monday, saying in a statement: “Our State grieves with those who have lost loved ones in the assassinating at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.”