Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez refuted President Donald Trump’s suggestion that her community didn’t take action to prevent a shooter from killing 17 at the school in a fiery Saturday speech. Politicians who take money from the NRA should feel ashamed, Gonzalez said, ending her address with “we call BS.”
“There’s one tweet that I would like to call attention to,” Gonzalez said at a rally at Ft. Lauderdale Federal Courthouse before reading the president’s Feb. 15 Twitter post that stressed people should’ve reported “bad and erratic behavior” to authorities.
“We did. Time and time again. Since [the accused shooter] was in middle school,” she replied. The accused gunman, Nikolas Cruz, 19, had been reported previously to the FBI.
“Those talking about how we should have not ostracized him, you didn’t know this kid! OK?” she shouted. “We did. We know that they are claiming that there are mental health issues, and I am not a psychologist, but we need to pay attention to the fact that this is not just a mental health issue.”