The father of a victim in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight that politicians should not be focused on pushing their agenda right after a mass shooting takes place.
Andrew Pollack told Tucker Carlson Monday that there needs to be more of a focus on law enforcement finding out what happened in the early moments of the shooting than on political grandstanding, citing the the Dayton and El Paso shootings as examples of what not to do.
“These politicians jumped on these events to push their political agendas and the victims aren’t even in the ground yet… and they’re pushing an agenda without even looking at the facts of what went wrong,” he said.
“Let the police do their job and look into what happened. They’re pretty pathetic.”
Pollack— whose daughter Meadow was killed in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School— said when lawmakers tried to politicize the tragedy it affected him personally.
“There are no words that I could put on it to tell you how it affected me when my daughter got murdered,” he said.”I’m so damaged by what happens with these people. To push a gun control agenda and take our rights away from victims— I’m not going to be a victim.”
Pollack added that juvenile suspects of crimes need to be introduced to the judicial system while they are still young so they are held accountable for their actions.
“You have to get to these kids while they’re still in high school and younger— when they’re committing crimes and acting out,” he said.
President Donald Trump is planning to visit Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, over the coming week. El Paso Mayor Dee Margo confirmed that Trump would visit El Paso in his capacity as president on Wednesday after the shootings.
“This is not a political visit,” Margo said Monday. “And he is President of the United States. So in that capacity, I will fulfill my obligations as Mayor of El Paso.”
Unlike El Paso’s mayor, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley was not so pleased with Trump’s plans to visit the city. At a Tuesday press conference, she encouraged protesters to stand up to Trump when he comes to visit the city in his official capacity.