President Trump is having trouble keeping America’s mass shootings straight.
On Tuesday, in tweeting his condolences about the Northern California shooting that injured 10 and killed five, the beleaguered consoler-in-chief referred to the Nov. 5 gun massacre at a Texas church that killed 25. “May God be with the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas,” he tweeted after the massacre. “The FBI and Law Enforcement has arrived.”
On Nov. 5, the day of the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Trump wrote, “May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan.”
May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2017
The erroneous tweet was up for 10 hours before Trump deleted it on Wednesday morning. In Rancho Tehama, California, on Tuesday morning, a gunman went on a shooting rampage across seven sites including an elementary school. Witnesses reported hearing gunshots and children screaming at the school, about five miles down a road from where the shooting started.
The gunman, who used a semi-automatic rifle and two handguns, was killed by law enforcement after about 45 minutes. Authorities said the gunman appeared to be firing at random.
“It was very clear at the onset that we had an individual that was randomly picking targets,” said Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston. He was named as Kevin Janson Neal, 44, on Wednesday morning, and the death toll was raised from four to five.
Authorities said they had discovered the shooter had killed his wife and buried her under the floorboards of their Rancho Tehama home. His motive is still unclear, but local officers said he was familiar to them and had been out on bail for assault with a deadly weapon in January.
“He was not law enforcement friendly,” Johnston said. The FBI is helping local authorities with the investigation.
