“We have to take meaningful action to prevent further tragedies like this”

Dec 15, 2012 05:34 GMT  ·  By

A 20-year-old man opened fire in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 children, 6 adults and then himself. As President Barack Obama put it in his emotional speech on the shooting, “our hearts are broken today.”

The President’s entire speech is embedded above.

Obama put politics aside and chose to focus solely on the tragedy that hit the community in Newtown: victims were mostly innocent children, he said, visibly emotional and crying.

“The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them: birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own,” the President said.

“Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams,” he added, stressing the need for everyone to reach out to those struck by tragedy and offer whatever help they can.

For his part, the President said that he would do everything in his power as President to help out with the investigation and to offer relief to the families of the victims, but also of the survivors – children who have been robbed of their innocence in the shooting.