Team USA coach Steve Kerr fears the repercussions following the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump and conceded it was a “demoralizing day for our country”.
Trump was shot and wounded when speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania last night. The 78-year-old suffered minor injuries after being hit in the ear but one spectator was killed and two others critically injured.
The assailant – 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks – was shot dead by the Secret Service.
Kerr and his players woke to the news at their pre-Olympics training camp in the United Arab Emirates and the Golden State Warriors coach, whose father was assassinated in Beirut in 1984, was deeply concerned.
He said: “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.
“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.
“This is a time where we feel very proud to represent our country wearing USA on our chest, competing in the Olympics.
“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.”
BREAKING NEWS: The Secret Service confirms that Trump is ‘safe’ after the former president was rushed off rally stage following reports of possible gunshots in Butler, Pennsylvania. pic.twitter.com/JCEJ1ZhSqQ
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Kerr is a long-time advocate for the introduction of more stringent gun laws in the US, as is Steph Curry, who described the shooting of Trump as another wake up call.
Team USA star Curry said: “It’s obviously a very sad time in general.
“All the conversations around the election and the state of politics in our country, and then you have a situation like this, which just [evokes] a lot of emotions around things that we need to correct as a people.
“Obviously, gun control first and foremost, because the fact that that’s even possible for somebody to have an attack like that. But just more so you want to [see] positivity and hope. It sounds cheesy, but it’s real.
“That’s when our country’s at its best, and it just adds another blemish to what’s going on. So sad is just the word.”
