President Joe Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were “shocked” by the mass shooting which tore through an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois on Monday, leaving six dead and two dozen more in hospital.
The president called it another example of “senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community”.
In a statement, Mr Biden said he and Ms Biden were “grateful” for the efforts of law enforcement officials who’d responded to the bloody scene, and said he’d offered Illinois Governor JB Prizker and Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering the “full support of the federal government,” including a surge of law enforcement officers to assist in the ongoing hunt for the suspected shooter.
“Members of the community should follow guidance from leadership on the ground, and I will monitor closely as we learn more about those whose lives have been lost and pray for those who are in the hospital with grievous injuries,” Mr Biden said.
The shooting in Highland Park, a wealthy suburb of Chicago, comes just weeks after Mr Biden signed into law the first major piece of federal gun safety legislation to make it through Congress in decades.
Mr Biden said the bill he signed will save lives, but stressed that there is “much more work to do” and vowed not to give up in the fight against gun violence.
A short time after Mr Biden issued his statement, Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters she and the president had been working “in close coordination” and were being briefed on the situation as the manhunt for the alleged shooter unfolds.
“Right now we do have an active shooter situation and so we are putting all of the resources possible into monitoring that in a way that we can bring this to a close in terms of also capture of that individual,” she said.
Ms Harris said she would be traveling to Chicago on Tuesday to address the National Association of Educators teacher’s union.
