President Barack Obama said that Sunday’s attack on a Florida nightclub was “an act of terror and an act of hate.”
Obama said that the nation was grieving the “horrific massacre” that claimed the lives of 49 victims and left another 53 people injured. He said that the day was “especially heartbreaking” for LGBT Americans.
“The place where [the victims] were attacked is more than a nightclub, a place of solidarity and empowerment,” he said. He called the attack a “sobering reminder” that an attack on any American “is an attack on all of us.”
Obama said that the FBI is leading the investigation into the mass shooting and that the agency is investigating it as an act of terrorism.
He noted that this has become the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history and noted that the shooter had both a handgun and assault rifle with him.
“This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater or in a nightclub, and we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be, and to actively do nothing is a decision as well,” he said.
