President Trump met Thursday with families who lost loved ones in a Texas school shooting, and while some grieving parents praised him for his compassion…
President Trump met Thursday with families who lost loved ones in a Texas school shooting, and while some grieving parents praised him for his compassion — another said when the subject turned to arming teachers “it was like talking to a toddler.”
The president met with more than two dozen people affected by the shooting on May 18 At Santa Fe High School in Texas, in which 10 were killed and more than a dozen wounded, but did not share his message for the grieving families with the public after the meeting at a Coast Guard base outside Houston.
Pamela Stanich — whose 17-year-old son, Jared Black, was among the eight students killed — was one of the parents who met with Trump, presenting him with a family statement and a copy of her son’s eulogy.
Trump “met with us privately and showed sincerity, compassion, and concern on making our schools safer across the nation,” she wrote in a Facebook post after the meeting.
“He spent time talking to the survivors and asking on what happened and what would have made a difference. Changes are coming for the good. Thank you Mr. Trump.”
But Rhonda Hart, whose 14-year-old daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was killed at the school, told The Associated Press that Trump repeatedly used the word ‘wacky’ to describe the shooter and the trench coat he wore.
She said she told Trump, “Maybe if everyone had access to mental health care, we wouldn’t be in the situation.”
Hart, an Army veteran, said she also suggested employing veterans as sentinels in schools.
She said Trump responded, “And arm them?” She replied, “No,” but said Trump “kept mentioning” arming classroom teachers. “It was like talking to a toddler,” Hart said.
A White House spokesman said Trump was “moved” by the shooting.
“These events are very tragic, whenever they happen. And you know, the president wants to extend his condolences and talk about the issue of school safety,” spokesman Raj Shah told Fox News Channel.
After the gathering, Trump then headed to a fundraiser at a luxury hotel in downtown Houston, the first of his two big-dollar events in Texas on Thursday.
After 17 teachers and students were killed during a February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Trump said he would work to improve school safety, but has not called for new gun control legislation.
With Associated Press
