Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Reverend Speaks Out On Gun Violence: 'The Saying Thoughts And Prayers Has Been Co-Opted By Gun Lobby To Keep Church From Taking Action'
To the strains of the hymn If We Just Talk of Thoughts and Prayers, the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States ordained The Rev. Deanna Hollas as its first minister of gun violence prevention this month. Ms. Hollas is believed to be the first person in the country to be given a national ecclesiastical role of this kind. And the choice of the hymn was a deliberate underlining of what she sees as a desperate need: to do more than react to the latest mass shooting with an offer of benedictions. That, she said, is not sufficient in a country where 40,000 people are killed by guns each year. (Hassan, 7/28)
Three people are dead and at least 15 injured after a shooting Sunday evening at a food festival in Gilroy, Calif., according to police. One gunman was killed by officers at the scene, Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said early Monday morning. Police are still searching for a possible second suspect, although its unclear if that person also fired on the crowd or assisted the shooter. We believe based on witness statements that there was a second individual involved in some way, Smithee said at a news conference. We just dont know in what way. (Chiu, Siddiqui and Flynn, 7/29)
Police officers stationed at the festival were on the scene within a minute. They returned fire and killed the gunman, said Mr. Smithee. Cheryl Low was working as a vendor in a booth when she spotted the shooter, who appeared to load his weapon and then began firing. It was just, Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! just randomly shooting everywhere he could shoot, she recalled. (Elinson, Frosch and Lazo, 7/29)
Videos from the scene showed people screaming and running across the festival grounds. Please pray everyone. Random shooters started shooting everywhere, one person tweeted. One boy is dead so far and others injured. Were still waiting while they find them. Scariest moments of my life at the Gilroy garlic festival, another person tweeted. I hope everyone made it out okay. (Newberry, Cosgrove, and Winton, 7/28)
Stephen Romero, 6, was killed during the shooting, Gilroy City Councilmember Fred M. Tovar told CNN.Tovar said he was "deeply saddened by the news." "I pray that God will grant his family strength. My most sincere condolences. I will keep your family close in my thoughts and prayers in the coming weeks as you are going through the process of grieving," he said in a statement. (Maxouris and Vercammen, 7/29)
