'Prayers and condolences': Trump tweets after Florida school shooting, but does not stand before cameras
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A former student went on a shooting rampage at a Florida high school, leaving 17 dead while panicked students barricaded themselves inside classrooms and frantic parents raced to the scene.
USA TODAY
President Trump tweeted his “prayers and condolences” after the fatal high school shooting in Florida, but made no on-camera comments Wednesday, as other presidents have done on the same day of mass school shootings.
“No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school,” Trump tweeted shortly after the shooting. Five minutes after, he tweeted that he spoke with Florida Gov. Rick Scott and was coordinating with police on the “terrible” shooting.
My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 14, 2018
At least 17 people were killed after shots rang out around 2 p.m. at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. It was the deadliest high school shooting in modern American history.
More: ‘I’m sick to my stomach’: 17 dead in Florida high school shooting; former student in custody
Related: Florida school shooting is the 6th to injure students this year
The White House press pool sent the administration’s official statement on the tragedy shortly after 3 p.m. ET. “The President has been made aware of the school shooting in Florida. We are monitoring the situation. Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected,” the statement read.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later canceled a regularly scheduled press briefing due to the massacre, and told reporters outside her office, “We’re pretty focused on the Florida shooting.”
By 6:15 p.m., a lid had been called — meaning no planned public briefing or address from Trump would be coming.
As of Wednesday night, Trump had no public appearances scheduled for Thursday. Some suggested that the president did not address the gravity of the tragedy, because he used Twitter rather than stand before the public in the national spotlight.
President Trump did not address the nation today after the Florida school shooting and, at least for now, he does not have any public appearances scheduled for tomorrow either
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) February 15, 2018
Seems that firm plans for what Trump will do or say to respond to shooting have not been made, per several White House staffers.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 15, 2018
As of now no public events for President Trump tomorrow. No press briefing scheduled. Following the massacre of 17 children and adults in Florida.
— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) February 15, 2018
Former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton made public comments the same day as mass school shootings during their time in office.Â
“The majority of those who died today were children. Beautiful little kids between the ages of five and 10 years old” Obama said Dec. 14, 2012, after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
I remember being at the White House on Dec. 14, 2012, the day of Sandy Hook. Obama went into the briefing room that afternoon to address the American people. A different WH approach today. Trump hasn’t spoken on camera, and his staff just called a lid.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) February 14, 2018
“Today, our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech,” Bush said April 16, 2007, after the Virginia Tech shooting.Â
“Hillary and I are profoundly shocked and saddened by the tragedy today in Littleton where two students opened fire on their classmates before apparently turning their guns on themselves,” Clinton said on April 20, 1999, after the Columbine High School shooting.
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Max Charles, second from right, 14, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., speaks to members of the media after being picked up by family members at a nearby hotel, in Coral Springs, Fla. A former student opened fire at the Florida high school Wednesday, killing more than a dozen people and sending scores of students fleeing into the streets in the nation’s deadliest school shooting since a gunman attacked an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.Â
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