Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), whose district includes the El Paso Walmart where 20 people were shot and killed Saturday, said it “was not accidental” that the store – where many Hispanic Americans and Mexicans shop – was targeted
“In this country, we have a gun violence epidemic but we also hate a hate epidemic,” she said Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week.” “Until we deal with that hate and until we confront the weak gun laws that we have, we’ll keep seeing this. The families in this community deserve better. Families in every community deserve better.”
{mosads}Escobar said her mother lives just blocks away from the Walmart, where two dozen people were also wounded in the shooting, and that her family shops there frequently. She described a bustling store with families shopping for school supplies and where “a lot of our neighbors and friends and family members from across the border come and shop.”
Asked about President Trump’s immigration rhetoric and threats of deportations, Escobar said that law enforcement in El Paso has worked to build relationships “with everyone regardless of status.”
“To be a safe community we need to treat people with dignity and respect,” she said. “We have a very different philosophy in El Paso than the philosophy that emanates from the White House. We embrace each other and take care of each other.”
Nine people were killed in a separate mass shooting early Sunday in Dayton, Ohio.