Some families of victims in the mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school say they still haven’t heard from President Trump months after the shooting.
BuzzFeed News reported Tuesday that out of eight families that the website interviewed, seven hadn’t heard from Trump.
One of the families had met with Trump, and the families of the nine other victims declined to talk or didn’t return the outlet’s request for comment.
Seventeen people were killed when a gunman opened fire at the high school in February.
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Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the shooting, told BuzzFeed that Trump not contacting his family “ticks me off.”
“I’m at a point where it’s like, you know what, if he doesn’t want to reach out to me, nobody has the obligation to offer condolence. To me, in his position, it would have been the right thing to do, but no one’s obligated,” Gutrenberg said.
“However, don’t use my daughter’s life for a political moment, and that’s what he did, and that pisses me off,” he added.
Guttenberg was referring to Trump invoking the shooting during his address at the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) annual meeting last week.
“Our entire nation was filled with shock and grief by the monstrous attack on a high school in Parkland, Fla.,” Trump said during his remarks. “We mourn for the victims and their families.”
BuzzFeed noted that past presidents had reached out to the families of mass shooting victims, including former President Obama’s visit to Newtown, Conn., after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The family of victim Meadow Pollack said they had heard from and met with Trump. Her father, Andrew, attended the listening session at the White House on school safety.
Andrew Pollack, who has called for more armed staffers at school — in line with Trump’s own views on arming personnel — said he met with Trump twice and also received a condolence letter.
Pollack told BuzzFeed that the White House has been “very helpful.”
The parents of Scott Beigel, a teacher who died in the shooting, told BuzzFeed that they hadn’t heard from Trump but had received a condolence letter from Obama.
“It’s almost amazing that he would take the time to call Roseanne Barr and congratulate her on such a great show, because it implied how wonderful he was,” Beigel’s father told BuzzFeed.
“But when it comes to consoling or helping, or even reaching out to victims, or people who are assisting victims, he has nothing to say,” he added. “You know, it’s really mind-boggling.”