House lawmakers held a moment of silence Tuesday to commemorate the 22 victims of the Aug. 3 mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who represents the district where the tragedy happened, requested the moment.
“A killer drove over 600 miles to my community. He massacred 22 people and injured another 26. He confessed to driving over 10 hours so that he could target Mexicans and immigrants,” she said on the House floor.
{mosads}Escobar said her community had rallied together after the killings, which came after the suspect in the shooting reportedly wrote an anti-immigrant and racist manifesto.
“El Paso, as usual, rose to the challenge before us. We grieved together, we went to the hospital together, we prayed together, we buried loves one together,” she said.
“I ask that this awful event be the turning point that our country so desperately needs, and that Americans so desperately want,” she continued. “We must end the hate and gun violence epidemic because for many of us these issues have become a matter of life and death.”
The shooting has reignited talks on Capitol Hill of passing legislation to prevent mass shootings, with bipartisan lawmakers working with the White House to come to a consensus on legislation aimed at tamping down gun violence.