Striking image and three words rock America

Just hours after police allege a 14-year-old schoolboy murdered four people, Donald Trump’s running mate uttered three words that have rocked conservative America.

Standing tall at a podium surrounded by Secret Service agents, JD Vance uttered three words that have rocked conservative America.

“I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” the Republican vice presidential candidate said.

Just one day earlier, police allege a 14-year-old boy turned up to his school in Georgia with an assault rifle gifted to him by his father and murdered four people.

“But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realise that our schools are soft targets,” Vance continued to the crowd in Phoenix, Arizona.

“And we have got to bolster security at our schools. We’ve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children they’re not able.”

As his words went viral online, so too did a striking image from an outdoor rally less than two weeks earlier in Michigan.

In that photo, Vance can be seen standing behind a thick, bulletproof glass barrier – a new measure enacted after Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt.

JD Vance has sparked outrage by lamenting that school shootings are a “fact of life” in America. A striking image of him at an earlier rally standing behind bulletproof glass quickly went viral online in light of his comments. Picture: Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images

One man who saw red was Fred Guttenberg, a grieving father whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was murdered in the Parkland high school shooting.

She was a straight-A student who was shot and killed in a hallway while fleeing a teenage gunman armed with an AR-15 as he committed the worst school shooting in US history.

“School shootings are a fact of life?,” Guttenberg wrote on X.

“My daughter Jaime’s murder was a fact of life? F*** you JD Vance, you miserable p***.”

Still seething 12 hours later, the activist against gun violence continued with another powerful post.

“There are approximately 115,000 schools in America,” he wrote.

“There are fewer than 100 school shootings every year. That is not a fact of life - that is a fact of failed policy and failed politicians.

“The idea that JD Vance would suggest we need to accept this as inevitable and prescribe the wrong solutions as a result is why he must never get close to the White House.”

JD Vance responds to the deadly shooting in Georgia by saying school shootings are just “a fact of life” and attacking common sense gun safety reform pic.twitter.com/ISNRuXneg6

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 6, 2024

A mugshot of alleged school shooter Colt Gray. Picture: Barrow County Sheriff's Office

A harrowing image from the scene showed the alleged killer’s assault rifle on the ground. Picture: Storyful

He wasn’t the only person who took issue with Vance’s choice of words.

Brandon Wolf, who survived the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting that left 49 dead and scores more horrifically injured, was incensed.

“No. I refuse to believe that watching kids come out of school in body bags is a ‘fact of life’,” he wrote.

“I won’t tell parents who’ve buried their children that it’s just “reality”. It does NOT have to be this way. And it wouldn’t — if political cowards had more to offer than a shrug.”

An American bible lecturer living in Australia was quick to point out the reality of living Down Under where gun violence has been eradicated almost entirely.

In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania in 1996 in which 35 people died, Australia enacted the National Firearms agreement.

More than a million firearms were destroyed and there have been just two shootings with more than five deaths in the 28 years since.

“American living in Australia here,” Dr Chris Fresch wrote.

“This is not a fact of life where I live. When I take my kids to school, there are no security measures beyond gates, doors and staff.

“Active shooter drills? My kids have never heard of them. There are solutions, but the GOP (Republican party) doesn’t care.”

The father of Jaime Guttenburg, who was killed in the Parkland high school shooting, unleashed on JD Vance. Picture: Supplied

Jaime Guttenberg was one of 17 people slaughtered by 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz in the worst school shooting in America’s history. Picture: Taimy Alvarez / AFP

Others took note of the irony of JD Vance appearing at rallies standing protected behind ballistic glass at venues where guns are banned.

“The person making this remark gets to speak at these events where firearms are prohibited,” wrote attorney Bradley Moss.

“America’s students don’t get the same bulletproof glass and security protection JD Vance does; but you know according to him that’s just a ‘fact of life’,” wrote podcast host Danielle Mooney.

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris also took aim at Vance, saying school shootings “are not just a fact of life.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way. We can take action to protect our children - and we will,” she wrote.

Her running mate, Tim Walz, agreed, branding Vance’s comment “pathetic.”

“We can’t quit on our kids -- they deserve better,” he wrote on X.

The alleged school shooter’s father Colin Gray, 54, faces 180 years behind bars if convicted on all charges. Police allege he gifted his son the assault rifle used in the massacre. Picture: Barrow County Sheriff's Office / AFP

Alleged school shooter and father face court

School shooting suspect Colt Gray appeared shackled in court for the first time on Friday - followed soon after by his dad.

The 14-year-old alleged gunman, dressed in green prison garb, faced Barrow County Court for a brief bond hearing after being charged as an adult with four counts of murder over Wednesday’s rampage at Apalachee High School.

The teen, who is being held at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, stared straight ahead with his shaggy blonde hair obscuring his face as the judge initially informed him he could face the death penalty if convicted.

Gray, who did not enter a plea, was escorted from the court with his wrists and ankles shackled after his lawyer declined to seek bail.

But Judge Currie Mingledorff quickly hauled Gray back to the court to correct himself, telling the youth he wouldn’t be eligible for the death penalty given he is younger than 18 years old and, instead, could face life in prison.

His father, Colin Gray, 54, appeared in the same courtroom moments later being slapped with a slew of charges Thursday, including ones tied to supplying the AR-15-style rifle allegedly used in the massacre.

The four Georgia victims, from top left to bottom right: Mason Schermerhorn, 14, Christian Angulo, 14, Christina Irimie, 53 and Richard Aspinwall, 39

The father, dressed in a gray-striped jail uniform, closed his eyes and rocked back-and-forth in his seat as the judge informed him faced up to 180 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

The elder Gray is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.

The grief-stricken relatives of at least one the victims were seated in the first row of the courtroom for the dual hearings and could be seen, at one point, tearfully clutching a soft toy.

He was taken into custody just minutes after allegedly gunning down his victims and later told investigators “I did it” while being interrogated, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told CNN.

Investigators haven’t yet released a motive for the bloodshed.

They are scrambling to piece together if there were any additional warning signs after authorities first paid a visit to his home in May 2023 over a school shooting threat he’d made on social media, investigators said.

- WithNY Post