‘Enough is enough,’ Dodgers manager says after tragedy in Texas

Dave Roberts looked at the flag in left field, flapping at half-staff. He looked at the red, white and blue stadium around him, the one situated just a mile south of the U.S. Capitol building.

Then, sitting in the visitors’ dugout at Nationals Park on Wednesday, the Dodgers manager looked at nothing in particular, his stoic gaze accompanied by a shaken voice and anguished expression.

A day after 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman at a Texas elementary school, Roberts didn’t want to talk about baseball before his team’s series finale against Washington.

His heart was heavy. His emotions were swirling. And he was struggling to cope with the latest gun-related tragedy to strike the country.

“Something needs to be done,” Roberts said. “Like everyone has said, enough is enough. When is enough, enough?”

For almost 10 minutes during his pregame scrum with reporters, Roberts talked at length about the Texas school shooting. About the need for more gun control in America. About how people with a platform like his, even in sports, have to help clamor for change.

“To see that flag at half-mast in our nation’s capital, it’s just heartbreaking,” Roberts said.

He added: “I love this country as much as anyone. But the people who are supposed to lead our country are supposed to take care of our walls first. That’s both sides of the aisle. If you have Americans killing Americans, I just don’t think they’re doing the job they’re called to do, to be quite frank. And we just can’t be afraid to hold people to a higher standard of accountability.”