The US President responded to the tragedy in Texas at a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
Donald Trump has claimed that the mass shooting that took place in a church in Texas on Sunday was caused by a “mental health problem” and that gun laws in the United States are not to blame.
At least 26 people were killed after a gunman, since named as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, opened fire on churchgoers during a service at Sutherland Springs in Texas on Sunday morning.
The victims ranged in age from 5 to 72 and included the 14-year-old daughter of the church’s pastor, who, along with his wife, was travelling out of the state when the shooting occurred. Several others were injured.
Asked whether gun control measures were the answer to the latest mass shooting in the United States, Donald Trump, who is currently in Japan meeting with Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, said: “Mental health is your problem here. Based on preliminary reports, this was a very deranged individual, a lot of problems over a long period of time.
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“We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries, but this isn’t a guns situation. I mean, we could go into it – it’s a little bit soon to go into it – but fortunately somebody else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction, otherwise it wouldn’t have been as bad as it was, it would have been much worse.
“But, this is a mental health problem at the highest level, it’s a very, very sad event, these are great people, it’s a very, very sad event, but this is how I view it.”
Earlier in the news conference, Trump described the shooting as an “act of evil” and sympathised with the families of the victims.
"This act of evil occurred as the victims and their families were in their place of sacred worship,” he said.
“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."
