President Barack Obama paid a visit to San Bernardino Friday night to personally meet with families of the victims killed in the terrorist attack.
Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walked from each of the 14 tables that symbolized each of the 14 victims killed to quietly speak with the victims’ families and loved ones.
Obama spoke to one of the victim’s family, Daniel Kaufman, who ran the coffee cart at the Inland Regional Center, to express his grief and give condolences.
“I could see that they were pained by what had happened,” said Ryan Reyes, Kaufman’s boyfriend.
The San Bernardino shooting was a shock to the whole community.
“This isn’t New York or L.A or Boston,” said Gloria Lerma of Redlands.
Syed Rizman Farook and Tashfeen Malik started shooting Dec. 2 at a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, ending with 14 killed and 22 injured.
Both Farook and Malik pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and leader Abu Bakr al-Badghadi. They had planned this attack for months, according to the FBI.
The Obamas spoke to families for more than three hours, expressing their grief.
“I’m glad he came to give these people condolences,” said Deenan Ramirez.
Despite the fact that families were happy to have the president come to personally speak with them, some other people are not. A supervisor for San Bernardino County criticized the U.S. president for not coming out sooner to help out with the aftermath.
“Unlike 9/11, when we saw President Bush at Ground Zero, and he said ,’ I can hear you’, we didn’t have President Obama here. There just wasn’t that moment,” said Curt Hagman.
Hagman also made a point to comment that Obama did lack leadership immediately after the incident.
Here’s a video clip of the Obamas arriving in San Bernardino.
President Obama in San Bernardino.
Posted by Angelina Botello on Friday, December 18, 2015
Featured image via CNN.
