Moment of Silence for the Victims at Marysville-Pilchuck High School

Floor Speech

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am joined today with my colleagues from Washington State to ask you, at the end of my comments, to ask for a moment of silence because, on October 24, the Marysville, Washington, and Tulalip communities were violently ripped apart by a tragic shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. Four students and their assailant have died, and one student was seriously wounded.

Now, as the father of two teenage boys, my heart breaks as I consider the families who were given the worst news imaginable as a result of this horrible event.

Healing is a difficult process, especially as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday. Marysville and Tulalip and the surrounding communities have shown their strength, however, and their resilience by celebrating these young people and giving thanks for their lives, although those lives were cut terribly short--the lives of Zoe Galasso, Gia Soriano, Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, Andrew Fryberg, and, yes, a celebration of even the life of the shooter, young Jaylen Fryberg.

Our thoughts are also with Nate Hatch and his family as he continues to recover.

We all want to thank our first responders and the Marysville-Pilchuck High School staff and leadership for their quick action on that sad day. We want to thank the Tulalip leadership for their resiliency and the faith communities throughout the area for opening their buildings and their arms to the grieving population. Everybody involved deserves our thanks and deserves our prayers.

For our first responders, you put yourselves at risk to keep our children safe, and I know I speak for our whole community when I thank you for your service and your bravery.

I want to commend the strength of the community leaders during this incredibly difficult time. And my colleagues and I want to continue to send thoughts and prayers to students, teachers, and families of the Marysville and Tulalip communities.

So, with that, Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the House, and we all ask the House, to observe a moment of silence as we remember these young people whose lives ended far too soon.

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