Washington, DC—Below is a statement by Tom Cochran, CEO and Executive Director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, on last night’s mass shooting in Monterey Park, California:
“Once again, we woke up this morning to learn about another mass shooting, this one in Monterey Park at a dance studio near a large Lunar New Year celebration on what should have been an evening of joy and celebration. There’s much we don’t know yet, but we do know that 10 people are dead and 10 more are wounded at the hands of a man with a gun. There are no words that can adequately convey our grief that another community is left to cope with so much pain and loss or our growing frustration that more Americans continue to die as we wait for Congress to pass commonsense gun safety legislation.
“Just two days ago during our United States Conference of Mayors’ Winter Meeting we heard from three mayors whose cities recently had mass shootings. They discussed the trauma and challenges they and their communities faced during the hours after the shootings occurred and the difficulty they and their residents still are having as they try to recover from the tragedy.
“America’s mayors stand with Monterey Park Mayor Henry Lo and the Monterey Park community. Our thoughts are with the families of those who were killed and those who were wounded. We refuse to accept that this senseless violence is just a part of living in the United States.”