Shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASSIDY. Madam President, all of us have experienced someone in our life who has died, but the murder of a child defies comprehension and can't be measured, understood, or compared to anything else. It is, in a word, awful.

Today, the Shreveport community in Louisiana grieves the loss of eight children. A man shot seven of his own and a cousin between the ages of 3 and 11. He shot the mothers. I am told they are hospitalized and in serious condition but expected to survive. A 13-year-old was injured jumping off the roof to escape.

Now, I asked people in my office: Why do we grieve so much? People die all the time. And I think what we agreed upon is that they look to their parents for protection and not to be killed.

And it is, if you will, a sacrifice of a sacred bond between a parent and a child. And, of course, when that comes to mind, what is sacred? And then also when we read of these dying, we think of our own children, and we feel protective of them. And we know, no matter how much emotion we feel, they died.

Now, we thank the officers who acted quickly and bravely to pursue the shooter and stop him from doing it again. We pray for the families, for the communities, that they can recover as much as family and communities can recover from something so horrific.

I request a moment of silence for these eight young souls, for Shreveport, and for us all.

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