White House press secretary Sarah Sanders wept at the briefing room podium on Monday as she recalled the heroism of Americans who sacrificed their lives to save others Sunday night amid a hail of bullets in Las Vegas.
The usually composed Sanders, a Christian who prays before briefing the media, became visibly choked up after quoting scripture.
‘The Gospel of John reminds us that “there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend”,’ Sanders said.
She had trouble making it past the next sentence.
With a quivering voice, Sanders declared that ‘the memory of those who displayed the ultimate expression of love in the midst of an unimaginable act of hate will never fade.’
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders fought back tears as she briefed reporters following Sunday night’s mass-shooting in Las Vegas
A man lay on top of a woman to protect her from gunfire as others fled an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas
Heather Melton, left, says her husband Sonny, right, saved her life as gunfire rang out at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Sunday. He was shot in the back and died, while Heather survived. The two are pictured above showing off their festival passes
‘Their examples will serve as an eternal reminder that the American spirit cannot and will not ever be broken,’ she said, regaining her composure.
Sanders is the daughter of former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who is also a Baptist minister.
At least 58 people are confirmed dead at the hand of gunman Stephen Paddock, who fired nonstop on a country music festival crowd from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Donald Trump presided over a moment of silence Monday on the South Lawn of the White House, and ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff.
He will visit Las Vegas to fulfill his role as comforter-in-chief on Wednesday.
Before taking reporters’ questions – largely about new calls for tighter gun control – Sanders praised three heroes who protected others during Sunday night’s chaos.
Lindsey Padgett and her fiance Mike Jay returned to the scene of the shooting after the gunfire stopped so they could help others
Sanders included Padgett and Jay in her list of heroes, telling the story of how they used their pickup truck to help transport wounded victims to hospitals
‘Twenty-nine-year-old Sonny Melton had traveled from Tennessee to Las Vegas for the concert with his wife Heather,’ she said.
‘When the bullets began raining down from above, Sonny shielded her from danger – selflessly giving up his life to save hers. They had been married for just over a year.’
Another man, Mike McGarry, ‘laid on top of students at the concert to protect them from the gunfire,’ she said.
McGarry, a financial adviser from Philadelphia, told a Reuters reporter: ‘They’re 20. I’m 53. I lived a good life.’
Sanders also praised Lindsey Padgett and her fiance Mike Jay, who returned to the scene of the shooting after the gunfire stopped so they could use their pickup truck to help transport wounded victims to hospitals.
And she cited an unnamed police officer who saved concertgoer Gail Davis by serving ‘as a human shield, protecting her from harm.’
President Trump spoke Monday about the shooting, calling it a ‘senseless murder’ and ‘an act of pure evil’
‘Multiple police officers, both on duty and off duty, were among those killed or injured,’ Sanders said.
‘But what these people did for each other says far more about who we are as Americans than the cowardly acts of the killer ever could.’
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Gospel of John, ch. 15, v. 12-13
Sanders resisted reporters’ questions about a re-energized gun control push on Monday.
‘Today is a day for consoling survivors and mourning those we’ve lost,’ she said.
‘There’s a time and place for a political debate but now is the time to unite as a country.
This was the scene at the music festival before the assassin opened fire on a crowd of as many as 30,000 people
Asked if the president has considered whether he could add something new to the long-raging debate over guns in America, she said: ‘I think there will certainly be time for that policy discussion to take place, but that’s not the place that we’re in at this moment. … Certainly, I think there’s a time for that to happen.’
But she cautioned against a rush to pass ‘laws that won’t … stop these kinds of things from happening.’
The city of Chicago, Sanders noted, saw more than 4,000 shooting victims in 2016.
‘They have the strictest gun laws in the country. That certainly hasn’t helped there,’ she said.