Warriors’ Steve Kerr delivers impassioned plea for gun management after Texas college taking pictures — ‘We will not get numb to this’

DALLAS — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn’t need to speak about basketball in his pregame information convention heading into Recreation four of the Western Convention finals in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday evening.

Basketball, he mentioned, did not matter.

“Since we left shootaround, 14 youngsters had been killed, 400 miles from right here. And a instructor,” Kerr mentioned, referring to the mass taking pictures that occurred at Robb Elementary College in Uvalde, Texas, earlier Tuesday.

The demise toll has since risen to at the very least 19 youngsters and two adults, in line with a spokesman for the Texas Division of Public Security. The 18-year-old suspect, a scholar at Uvalde Excessive College who entered the elementary college with a handgun and presumably a rifle, can also be useless, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott mentioned.

It was not instantly clear how many individuals had been wounded, however the college district’s police chief, Pete Arredondo, mentioned there have been “a number of accidents.”

“When are we going to do one thing?” Kerr yelled, slamming his fists on the desk. “I am drained. I’m so bored with getting up right here and providing condolences to the devastated households which might be on the market. I’m so bored with the, excuse, I’m sorry, I’m bored with the moments of silence. Sufficient!”

Kerr has lengthy been outspoken in opposition to gun violence. His father was shot useless in a terrorist assault in Beirut in 1984, and he has spent a lot of his skilled life calling for gun legislation reform.

On quite a few events, together with Tuesday, Kerr has pointed to H.R.8, a invoice that will tighten background verify guidelines for firearm transfers amongst personal events. That invoice handed within the U.S. Home of Representatives in early 2021, however it by no means acquired to the Senate ground.

“There is a purpose why they will not vote on it,” Kerr mentioned. “To carry on to energy.”

As he regarded into the digital camera, he continued, “So I ask you: [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do something concerning the violence and college shootings and grocery store shootings. I ask you: Are you going to place your individual want for energy forward of the lives of our youngsters and our aged and our churchgoers? As a result of that is what it appears to be like like. It is what we do each week.”

Kerr knew there was a basketball sport to be performed Tuesday — and a giant one at that, with the Warriors having a chance to shut out their sequence in opposition to the Mavericks and advance to the NBA Finals. However he urged anybody watching to maintain their thoughts on the victims.

Mavericks coach Jason Kidd shared an identical sentiment earlier than Tuesday’s sport.

“We’ll really play with heavy hearts tonight for the group, for the college of Robb Elementary College,” Kidd mentioned. “As coaches, as fathers, we’ve youngsters, folks on this room have youngsters, elementary college; you’ll be able to simply take into consideration what might happen with any of your loved ones or associates at a college.”

Warriors star Stephen Curry mentioned the taking pictures was on everybody’s thoughts coming into the sport, which the Mavericks won 119-109, and acknowledged the issue of staying centered “on going out and enjoying basketball understanding what occurred on this state.”

“I acquired youngsters,” Curry mentioned. “Ship them to high school day-after-day. Drop them off. And you’re feeling for the dad and mom which might be going by means of what they’re going by means of.”

Robb Elementary College, situated about 85 miles west of San Antonio, has an enrollment of just below 600 college students, and Arredondo mentioned it serves college students within the second, third and fourth grades. This was the college’s final week of courses earlier than summer time break.

“Uvalde, there aren’t any proper phrases,” the San Antonio Spurs wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. “Our hearts are with you and all of our neighbors impacted by at the moment’s horrific taking pictures.”

The Astros and Cleveland Guardians noticed a second of silence and reflection for the victims earlier than their sport in Houston.

“Tonight we play for Uvalde, Texas,” the WNBA’s Dallas Wings said in a statement. They’d go on to defeat the Solar 85-77 in Connecticut. Afterward, Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale echoed Kerr, emphasizing, “One thing has to alter.”

“We will not simply hold saying ‘Relaxation in peace’ to folks each week and day-after-day, each different day,” she mentioned. “Sure, we’re enjoying sports activities … however that is heavy on our hearts as a result of these are youngsters. These might be our future youngsters. We will be in Texas for some time; that might have been our children sooner or later.”

Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve’s voice broke as she addressed the taking pictures, its influence and her concern for her 7-year-old little one.

“You ask the identical factor each time, ‘What number of extra?'” she mentioned. “To be supposedly world leaders and to overlook so badly in caring for our personal folks. We really feel horrible for the households. My child acquired out of the automotive at the moment, and I ran and hugged him. I can not think about what these households undergo. Tomorrow, the subsequent day, the subsequent week … we all know it will occur once more. It is disgusting.”

Warriors guard Damion Lee commented on how “it is simpler to get a gun than child system proper now,” including, “That is unbelievable on this nation that we dwell in.”

The taking pictures was the deadliest at a U.S. grade college since a gunman killed 20 youngsters and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary College in Newtown, Connecticut, virtually a decade in the past. And it got here simply 10 days after a gunman in physique armor killed 10 Black consumers and staff at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, in what authorities say was a racist assault. Simply two days after the Buffalo mass taking pictures, one individual was killed and 5 others had been wounded in a taking pictures at a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods, California, that was described by the Orange County sheriff as a “politically motivated hate incident.”

“I am fed up. I’ve had sufficient,” Kerr mentioned. “We will not get numb to this. We will not sit right here and simply examine it and go, effectively, let’s go have a second of silence.”

Kerr slammed the desk another time earlier than his last assertion:

“It is pathetic. I’ve had sufficient.”

ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, Mechelle Voepel and Ohm Youngmisuk and The Related Press contributed to this report.