David Jackson, USA TODAY 5:27 p.m. EDT September 22, 2013
President Obama speaks Sept. 16 about the shooting at the Navy Yard.(Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty Images)
[h=3]Story Highlights[/h]
President Obama said Sunday that last week's deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard "echoes other recent tragedies" that has devastated families across the nation.
During a memorial service in Washington, D.C., the president said he has now spoken at "five American communities ripped apart by mass violence."
Said Obama: "Once more, our hearts are broken; once more, we ask why."
Obama has delivered sadly similar remarks at Fort Hood in Texas, an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.; and a supermarket appearance by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., in Tucson -- and, now, Washington, D.C.
Just before his speech, Obama met privately with relatives of those who lost their lives during the attack. During the service, the president told the families, "we cannot begin to comprehend your loss."
During a speech Saturday night, Obama said the victims' families "now know the same unspeakable grief of families in Newtown, and Aurora, and Tucson, and Chicago, and New Orleans, and all across the country, people whose loved ones were torn from them without headlines sometimes, or public outcry."
bama said during a speech Saturday night.
Speaking to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama urged lawmakers to revive a push for gun control legislation that stalled in Congress this year.
During the memorial service at Marine Barracks Washington, Mayor Vincent Gray said "our country is drowning in a sea of guns." He called it "a fact of life which we must stop accepting."
Officials closed the memorial to the public amid tight security. Some 4,000 invitees attended, many of them military personnel and members of Congress.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other officials are also scheduled to speak.
The service is to include a reading of the names of the fallen, as well as the playing of the Navy hymn and Taps.
"This act of evil defies comprehension," said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus during the service.
Authorities say Navy contractor Aaron Alexis, 34, arrived at work Monday morning, passed through security, assembled a shotgun in a men's room and began a shooting spree that left 12 people dead before he was fatally shot.
The Navy Yard reopened Thursday -- except for Building 197, where the tragedy took place.
As he noted, this is only the latest memorial address delivered by Obama.
Just this year, the president has spoken at services follow a bombing at the Boston Marathon, a fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, and a deadly tornado in Oklahoma.
President Obama speaks Sept. 16 about the shooting at the Navy Yard.(Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty Images)
[h=3]Story Highlights[/h]
- President Obama speaks at memorial for Washington Navy Yard shooting
President Obama said Sunday that last week's deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard "echoes other recent tragedies" that has devastated families across the nation.
During a memorial service in Washington, D.C., the president said he has now spoken at "five American communities ripped apart by mass violence."
Said Obama: "Once more, our hearts are broken; once more, we ask why."
Obama has delivered sadly similar remarks at Fort Hood in Texas, an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.; and a supermarket appearance by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., in Tucson -- and, now, Washington, D.C.
Just before his speech, Obama met privately with relatives of those who lost their lives during the attack. During the service, the president told the families, "we cannot begin to comprehend your loss."
During a speech Saturday night, Obama said the victims' families "now know the same unspeakable grief of families in Newtown, and Aurora, and Tucson, and Chicago, and New Orleans, and all across the country, people whose loved ones were torn from them without headlines sometimes, or public outcry."
bama said during a speech Saturday night.
Speaking to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama urged lawmakers to revive a push for gun control legislation that stalled in Congress this year.
During the memorial service at Marine Barracks Washington, Mayor Vincent Gray said "our country is drowning in a sea of guns." He called it "a fact of life which we must stop accepting."
Officials closed the memorial to the public amid tight security. Some 4,000 invitees attended, many of them military personnel and members of Congress.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other officials are also scheduled to speak.
The service is to include a reading of the names of the fallen, as well as the playing of the Navy hymn and Taps.
"This act of evil defies comprehension," said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus during the service.
Authorities say Navy contractor Aaron Alexis, 34, arrived at work Monday morning, passed through security, assembled a shotgun in a men's room and began a shooting spree that left 12 people dead before he was fatally shot.
The Navy Yard reopened Thursday -- except for Building 197, where the tragedy took place.
As he noted, this is only the latest memorial address delivered by Obama.
Just this year, the president has spoken at services follow a bombing at the Boston Marathon, a fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, and a deadly tornado in Oklahoma.