A visibly distraught U.S. President Barack Obama fought back tears as he addressed the media following this morning's Connecticut school shooting tragedy.
“The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old,” Obama said during a national TV address.
After pausing to compose himself for five whole seconds, he added, “They had their entire lives ahead of them: birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own.”
Then the president wiped the corner of his eye.
The massacre allegedly carried out by Adam Lanza (not his brother, Ryan Lanza, as was first reported) is enough to make anyone sick, but especially parents of young kids.
For Obama, who has two daughters, Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11, with wife Michelle, the thought of 18 children slain at an elementary school kid particularly close.
Obama said that, like other parents across the country, he and wife Michelle will hug their children tonight, and tell them how much they love them.
"But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight," he lamented.
"And they need all of us right now. In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans. And I will do everything in my power as president to help."
Obama cited the scenes of other shootings - a shopping mall in Oregon, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, a movie theater in Colorado and "a street corner in Chicago."
"These children are our children," he said, and "our hearts are broken today."
The president added, "We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."
Our hearts and thoughts go out to the victims and their families, as well.