From the surrounding community of Parkland, Florida, to the White House and the Winter Olympics, the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead drew reactions of horror, condemnation of the 19-year-old former student charged as the shooter, condolences for grieving families and pleas for new solutions to end gun violence.
Here is a sample of those voices responding to the tragedy.
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“We are all joined together as one American family, and your suffering is our burden also. No child, no teacher, should ever be in danger in an American school.”
— President Donald Trump, addressing the nation the day after the shootings
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“So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”
— Trump on Twitter before his Thursday address.
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“My message to lawmakers in Congress is please take action. Ideas are great. Ideas are wonderful and they help you get re-elected and everything. But what’s more important is actual action. … Children will continue to die if we don’t take a stand now.”
— David Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, on CNN
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“It’s not as if nothing has been done to enforce the laws we have on the books and make sure that bad people who aren’t supposed to get guns don’t get guns. But I don’t think that means you then roll the conversation into taking away citizens’ rights. … Right now I just think we need to take a breath and collect the facts.”
— U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, in an interview with radio show host Tony Katz
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“It cannot be denied that something dangerous and unhealthy is happening in our country. … Every one of these cases, we’ve had advance indications and perhaps we haven’t been effective enough in intervening immediately to deal with that. … We can and we must do better. We owe it to every one of those kids crying outside their school yesterday and all those who never made it out of that school.”
— U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, speaking to a group of sheriff’s in Washington
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“Congress has a moral responsibility to take commonsense action to prevent the daily tragedy of gun violence in communities across America. Enough is enough.”
— U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California in a statement
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“To say that such brutal, pointless violence is unconscionable is an understatement.”
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, in calling for a moment of silence for the Florida victims
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“We have mourning parents, we have people who are in really difficult circumstances, and I think we just need to keep them in our thoughts and prayers at this time. We can have conversations about other things later.”
— U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaking during a visit to Lebanon
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“We are so privileged and lucky to be doing what we are doing, and it’s so sad that 17 people died in the United States. … There’s an emotional hurt. I am overwhelmed.”
—U.S. pairs skater Alexa Scimeca-Knierim, who broke down in tears after her free skate performance with husband Chris Knierim at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea
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“This is just absolutely pure evil.”
— Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
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“My heart is heavy over the school shooting in Florida. Keeping all affected in my thoughts & prayers.”
— First lady Melania Trump on Twitter
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“This happens nowhere else other than the United States of America. We are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else.”
— U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday
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“In this moment, I am a mom of three kids that go to school and I had to talk my kids off a ledge this morning because they were afraid to go to school.”
— TV talk show host Kelly Ripa on ABC’s “Live with Kelly and Ryan”
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“In the wake of yet another school shooting, the 18th of this year, we should pray for the victims and their families but those of us in public office are obligated to act to reduce gun violence.”
— U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, on Twitter
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“This tragedy is something that just cannot be swept under the rug or think about it for a few hours or a few days and then it’s gone. … Everyone has to take a long look at how we treat guns and particularly those assault rifles.”
— TV talk show host Maury Povich in a video posted to Twitter
