'In the Face of Horrible Evil, Texans Come Together'

Earlier this week I traveled to El Paso to support a community struck by unspeakable evil. During my visit, I received briefings from local officials, law enforcement officers, and first responders, and met with doctors and nurses caring for shooting survivors. He also spent time with victims and their grieving families and visited a memorial to honor the innocent people who lost their lives to this horrific act of violence.

I've spent the last two days here meeting with law enforcement, meeting with first responders, meeting with 911 operators, meeting with doctors and nurses, meeting with families, meeting with families who tragically have lost loved ones and families who of those who were injured and are struggling. Despite the darkness, it's inspiring to see El Paso, and it's inspiring to see the love, compassion, the heroism, the strength.

In my visits with survivors and their families, I was inspired by the local heroes who risked their lives to save others.

I visited with a woman [earlier this week] who was shot at the Walmart, who a stranger she never met pulled her in his car to drive her to the hospital to save her life. That's who we are, and it is in that spirit that we need to come together and stand together. I visited with another woman, a woman in her eighties who had been shot, who had lost her sister, who in the face of such barbaric atrocity she was filled with joy, she was filled with love, she was surrounded by her family, and she was looking forward to getting home and mowing her lawn outside.

After receiving a briefing from the El Paso chief of police, the mayor of El Paso, Customs and Border Patrol agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, and the FBI, I thanked the dispatchers who bravely answered calls for help on Saturday. As local authorities explained, because of the unique, cohesive communication system used by dispatchers and local law enforcement, first responders were able to arrive on the scene within a matter of minutes - preventing a delay that could have resulted in even more senseless deaths.

I am very glad that the Department of Justice and the FBI are treating this as domestic terrorism and as a hate crime. It clearly is terrorism and a hate crime, and the full force of the prosecutorial authority of state government and the federal government will appropriately ensure that the maximum penalty is enforced against this mass murderer. This community is strong, and I will tell you the entire state of Texas, the entire country stands united with the men and women of El Paso. We will get through this, we will come through stronger.