US President Donald Trump on Monday called the mass shooting in Texas church that left at least 26 people dead a “mental health problem,” not “a gun situation”.
Asked what policies he might support in response to Sunday’s Sutherland Springs shooting at a press conference in Tokyo, Trump said that based on preliminary reports, the gunman was “a very deranged individual, a lot of problems”.
He said Sunday’s attack, which left a further 20 people injured, “isn’t a guns situation” and said it was a “little bit soon” to get into a discussion about gun reform. He further noted that a person in the crowd with a gun shot at the attacker and caused him to flee.
“This is a mental health problem at the highest level. It’s a very, very sad event,” Trump said, having earlier asked: “Who would ever think a thing like this could happen?”.
In 2015, just a day after Trump launched his White House bid, nine people were killed in an attack on a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Trump’s attempts to distance the shooting from gun reform calls that have continued since the worst mass shooting in US history, in Las Vegas on October 1, are in stark contrast to the sentiment expressed by his predecessor.
Writing on Twitter, Barack Obama said he grieved with the families “harmed by this act of hatred,” and said he would “stand with the survivors as they recover”.
In a subsequent message the former president urged those in power to take action to combat violence and reduce the prevalence of guns.
“May God also grant all of us the wisdom to ask what concrete steps we can take to reduce the violence and weaponry in our midst,” he wrote.
The gunman believed to be responsible for the First Baptist Church massacre has been identified in multiple reports as Devin Patrick Kelley, a 26-year-old former member of the US Air Force.
Kelley is a white male from outside of San Antonio, ABC News reported, and according to USAF spokeswoman Ann Stefanek, he served at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico from 2010 until his discharge in 2014.
The Air Force said late Sunday that Kelley was court-martialed in 2012 for assault on his spouse and their child. He received a bad conduct discharge, a 12-month sentence in a military prison and a reduction in rank for the offense.
Trump’s statement on the shooting has not gone down well with commentators online who compared his response to his remarks made in the aftermath of last week’s terror attack in Manhattan that claimed eight lives.
After fleeing the shooting scene - about 65 km (40 miles) east of San Antonio - the suspect was found dead by a gunshot wound in his vehicle in neighboring Guadalupe County, Wilson County authorities said.
“The exact circumstances of the gunman’s death are still under investigation,” a statement from the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
Prior to the shooting, the suspect was seen at a gas station dressed in all black before crossing the street to the church and opening fire on the congregation with a “Ruger AR assault-type rifle,” Texas Department of Public Safety regional director Freeman Martin said at a subsequent press conference on Sunday.
“This investigation is ongoing and information surrounding this tragedy is still being gathered and confirmed by law enforcement officials,” the sheriff’s office and Texas DPS said.
The deceased are aged between 5 and 72 years old.
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