US President Donald Trump on Wednesday afternoon visited University Medical Center of El Paso in Texas and Dayton in Ohio in light of the mass shootings that killed 32 people over the weekend and met the kin of the victims and the injured.
As Trump visited a local hospital to meet the injured, a large group of El Paso protesters gathered at a nearby parking lot demanding gun control reform and an end to caustic rhetoric that they believed to be contributing to a culture of violence in America.Protesters held signs claiming Trump has blood on his hands after the shooting and condemned his “hate speech.”
On August 3, 22 people were killed and 27 others were injured after a gunman opened fire in a Walmart shopping centre in El Paso. The suspect was identified as a 21-year-old white man named Patrick Crusius.
On arrival the US President and First Lady Melania Trump were greeted at the airport by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and El Paso Mayor Dee Margo.
Earlier, Trump also visited Dayton, Ohio where a shooting incident killed ten people, including the suspect on August 4, less than 24 hours after the El Paso shooting.
During the visits, the White House said that media was not allowed into the hospitals because Trump wanted to meet with the victims’ families. “The trips were not about photo ops,” as said by a White House spokesperson.
President Trump also called for tighter reforms, ranging from a background check on gun buyers to amendments in the immigration legislation, in the event of the shooting incidents in El Paso and Dayton.
