(CNN) — President Donald Trump on Monday morning decried the shooting in Texas as an “act of evil” and called it “horrific” in his first public remarks since a gunman killed 26 people in a Texas church.
“This act of evil occurred as the victims and their families were in their place of sacred worship. We cannot put into words the pain and grief we all feel and we cannot begin to imagine the suffering of those who lost the ones they love,” Trump said at the top of his previously scheduled remarks to business leaders at the US embassy in Tokyo.
Trump, speaking just hours after the shooting, said his “thoughts and prayers” are with the victims and their families, but did not suggest plans to take any legislative or other policy action to address the shooting.
Trump once again urged unity in the face of the latest mass shooting in US history and said it is what Americans “do best.”
“We pull together. We join hands, we lock arms and through the tears and through the sadness we stand strong, oh so strong,” Trump said.
Trump pledged his administration’s “full support to the great state of Texas and all local authorities investigating this horrible crime.”