Trump Tweeted Condolences to Wrong Mass Shooting

Koh Mochizuki

Nov. 16, 2017

Trump Tweeted Condolences to Wrong Mass Shooting

Donald Trump tweeted his condolences to a different mass shooting on Tuesday after a gunman killed at least four people in California. Instead, his thoughts lay again with the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas.

“May God be with the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI and Law Enforcement has arrived,” he tweeted, after returning from a 12-day trip in Asia.

People were confused as to why Trump's tweet came nine days after the shooting in Texas, but as it turns out, the President already addressed Sutherland Springs.

The horrific Texas shooting, which left 26 people dead, happened inside the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on November 5. Trump cited mental illness as the reason for the fatal attack, not the issue of gun ownership.

“I think that mental health is a problem here. Based on preliminary reports, this was a very deranged individual with a lot of problems over a very long period of time,” he said at a press conference while he was in Japan.

“May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan,” Trump tweeted then.

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Trump meant to address the violent assault that took place in California, but it seems a copy and paste error resulted in the confusion. Tuesday's tweet has since been removed from Trump's Twitter account approximately eight hours after initial posting.

The California tragedy on Tuesday happened in the town of Rancho Tehama Reserve, where 44-year-old Kevin Janson Neal went on a shooting rampage injuring at least ten people after killing his wife and concealing her body underneath their home the previous night. Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said, "We believe that's probably what started this whole event."

The discovery of the wife's body brought the death toll to six, including Neal, himself.