Moment of Silence for Slain Shreveport Family

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, our hearts are broken tonight, as they have been since Sunday morning. Everyone has seen the stories in the news out of my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, a city that is represented in part by Congressman Cleo Fields, who is here with me now.

We stand here with one voice as members of the Louisiana delegation to express our deep sorrow for the lives that were taken too soon. There were eight young, innocent children, all between the ages of 3 and 11, lost in a tragedy that can only be described as senseless, unspeakable evil.

Jayla Elkins was 3 years old; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5.

As the details of their killing unfold, it is difficult for us to put our emotions into words. This tragedy confounds the minds and hearts of every parent in America, and we have been thinking a lot about this. We encourage mothers and fathers to go home tonight and hold your loved ones extra close. I think all of us are doing that.

Life is a sacred gift from God. As this horrific event reminds us, it can be too short.

The entire community of Shreveport needs our prayers right now: the first responders and law enforcement who descended swiftly on the scene, the classrooms with empty seats and missing friends at school today, and, most of all, the families whose lives have been forever changed by this tragedy.

Hold all of them close in your hearts and your prayers, if you will, and we trust that God is close to the brokenhearted, as promised to us in Scripture.

If we could all please join in a moment of silence in honor of the eight young and precious lives who were lost far too soon.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that the House now observe a moment of silence.

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