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Trump says Texas shooting due to mental health problem, not a gun situation
The US President said based on preliminary reports on Texas church shooting, which left 26 dead, the gunman was a very deranged individual, with a lot of problems.
US President Donald Trump on Monday called the mass shooting in Texas that left at least 26 people dead a “mental health problem,” not “a gun situation.”
Asked what policies he might support in response to the shooting at a press conference in Tokyo, Trump said based on preliminary reports, the gunman was “a very deranged individual, a lot of problems”.
He said Sunday’s attack “isn’t a guns situation” but “a mental health problem at the highest level. It’s a very, very sad event”.
The lone gunman carrying an assault rifle opened fire after entering First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, about 65 km (40 miles) east of San Antonio, killing people that ranged in age from 5 to 72.
Though authorities described the shooter as only a “young white male in his early-20s”, news reports identified him as Devin P Kelley, a 26-year-old from Houston. He once served with the US air force, in logistics and taught toddlers in an elementary school.
The incident is the latest in a string of mass shootings that bring into focus liberal gun rules in United States, which was last rattled a month ago when a man fired into a concert in Las Vegas using heavy weapons.
