Biden calls for action after US mass shooting
US President Joe Biden said action must be taken following the latest mass shooting which saw eight people killed at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis by a former employee.
It comes after the FBI said the killer was interviewed by agents last year, after his mother called police to say that her son might commit “suicide by cop”.
Biden said he had been briefed on the shooting and called gun violence “an epidemic” in the US.
“Too many Americans are dying every single day from gun violence,” he said. “It stains our character and pierces the very soul of our nation.”
Coroners released the names of the victims late on Friday, a little less than 24 hours after the latest mass shooting to rock the US.
Four of them were members of Indianapolis’ Sikh community.
The attack was another blow to the Asian American community a month after six people of Asian descent were killed in a mass shooting in the Atlanta area amid ongoing attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.
The gunman was identified as Brandon Scott Hole, 19, of Indianapolis.
Investigators searched a home in the city associated with the gunman.
Hole began firing randomly at people in the car park of the FedEx facility late Thursday, killing four, before entering the building, fatally shooting four more people and then turning the gun on himself. It is not yet known if Hole owned the gun legally.
The killings took place in a matter of minutes, and there were at least 100 people in the facility at the time.