President Trump said Friday he was heading to Florida to meet with victims of the school shooting massacre there this week, as Washington struggles with how to prevent repeated episodes of deadly gun violence.
“I will be leaving for Florida today to meet with some of the bravest people on earth - but people whose lives have been totally shattered. Am also working with Congress on many fronts,” Mr. Trump tweeted.
Mr. Trump was already scheduled to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, about 40 miles north of where the shooting occurred Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The White House did not immediately provide details of the president’s planned travel in Florida.
Nikolas Cruz, a troubled 19-year-old, is in police custody and charged with killing 17 students and faculty members in the shooting that also injured 14 others. He has confessed to opening fire on students at the school, according to the police arrest report.
This week’s shooting attack ranks as the greatest loss of life from school gun violence after the 2012 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 first-graders and six teachers dead.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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