HARTFORD -- State leaders, along with President Donald Trump reacted to the mass shooting Wednesday that killed 17 people at a Florida high school.
Governor Malloy said, “Our hearts break for the lives cut short and for the families who have been robbed of a loved one. The injured remain in our thoughts, as do the heroic first responders. While we don’t know all the details of this horrific event, this is act of carnage is all too familiar. This is the 18th school shooting in the 45 days of 2018. That’s not acceptable. Surely we can all agree that our classrooms should be places of learning where kids don’t have to worry about the threat of unspeakable violence. I once again implore Congress to do something to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in this country. Enough is enough.”
Malloy ordered flags at half staff Thursday until sunset on Monday to honor the victims.
Lt. Governor Wyman said, “We are horrified by yet another incident of gun violence in our schools. Our prayers are with the victims of this terrible event, and their families. We are thinking about the many students, staff, and faculty who have had to go through this tragedy in Florida and throughout the nation. In Connecticut, we know what that means first-hand, and our hearts are with the people of Florida as they move forward.”
“Turn on your television right now, you're going to see scenes of children running for their lives. It’s what looks to be the [18]th school shooting in this country, and we have not even hit March,” said Murphy. “Let me just note once again for my colleagues: 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. As a parent, it scares me to death that this body doesn't take seriously the safety of my children, and it seems like a lot of parents in South Florida are going to be asking that same question later today.”
Thank you, Mr. President. Watching the pictures today as I came here to the Floor was deeply moving, even though there is much that we don't know, a lot of information that we lack about what is happening at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The images are of emergency vehicles and emergency responders of young people and children evacuating a school after another tragic incident of gun violence. It brings back memories that are searing and harrowing. Once again, we feel that churning in our stomach, that sense of gut punch, and a wrenching of hearts that reminds us of how we felt that day of violence in Newtown. And yet another school is victimized by gun violence.
We're waiting to learn more of the details, but certainly our hearts and prayers go to the victims and their loved ones. Our gratitude goes to the courageous first responders who are on the scene now apprehending the shooter and administering to the victims and survivors. My thoughts and prayers are with those students, emergency responders, parents, loved ones, and the community of Parkland.
Again, gun violence respects no boundaries. It spares no communities. It victimizes all of us wherever it happens and whenever, including the gun violence that kills people every day individually, often unpublicized and invisible.
My heart breaks to hear that one more school is facing this unthinkable horror that again, this harrowing scene plays before the people of America, literally unfolding in real-time. I know that I share and all of the members of this chamber share the grief and sympathy and heartbreak that that community experiences today.
Congressman Jim Himes spoke on CNN:
“The pattern will be perfectly predictable. There will be a moment of silence, people will wish everybody thoughts and prayers and sympathy for the victims and then the congress of the United States will do absolutely nothing,” Himes said. ““It’s the kind of thing that really hits you right in the gut, especially if, as I do, you come from a state that has experienced some truly horrendous violence.”
Rep. Frederica Wilson, of Florida
Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives