USA Basketball head coach Steve Kerr said Saturday the assassination attempt on former President Trump at a campaign rally was a “demoralizing day for our country.”
Kerr, who is also the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, spoke about the shooting while in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, as the men’s Olympic basketball team prepares for the Paris Olympics in a couple of weeks.
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“This is a time where we feel very proud to represent our country wearing USA on our chest, competing in the Olympics,” he said, via ESPN. “We’ve talked to the players about how important it is to show the best version of us as human beings to represent our country in a respectful, dignified manner. It makes you want to do that even more so, because this is really shameful for us to sit here and think about what happened and what’s going on in our country.”
Kerr’s father, Malcolm, was assassinated while in Beirut in 1984. Kerr is a longtime advocate for gun control and was among the sporting figures who was highly critical of Trump during his presidency from 2016-2020.
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Trump said he was “shot by a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear” while at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Videos from the rally showed gun shots ringing out and then Trump grabbing his right ear as Secret Service personnel tackled him to the ground.
Secret Service members returned fire and killed the would-be assassin, who was later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20. One rally goer was killed and two others were injured.
“It’s such a demoralizing day for our country, and it’s yet another example of not only our political division but also gun culture,” Kerr added. “A 20-year-old with an AR-15 trying to shoot the former president. It’s hard to process everything, and it’s scary to think about where this goes because of the issues that already exist in the country. So, this is a terrible day.
“Thank God Trump wasn’t hit, but it’s just so demoralizing in every which way.”
Trump said he will still travel to Milwaukee ahead of the start of the Republican National Convention.
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