CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Many people in the Carolinas expressed a mix of anger, sadness and frustration following Saturday's mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas shopping center. As of 2:45 p.m. Monday, 22 people were killed and several others injured in the mass shooting.
Early Sunday, a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio left nine people dead, including the suspect's sister, and injured several others. The suspect in that shooting was killed by police within a minute of firing shots. It was the second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than 24 hours.
Many spoke out after the two mass shootings, including Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and UNC Charlotte shooting survivor Drew Pescaro.
Kim Lybrand was out with friends at Park Road Shopping Center in Charlotte Saturday night, and described the El Paso shooting as upsetting.
"[It's] scary for families today to raise children in an environment like that thinking that something could happen," Lybrand said.
Many families were at the El Paso Walmart scouring the aisles for back-to-school supplies when the shooting took place, and many in the Carolinas are doing back-to-school shopping this weekend during South Carolina's tax-free weekend.
Bulletproof backpacks are now being placed next to school supplies, which Amber Williams described as a saddening sight.
"Very scary to even think that you'd have to have bulletproof backpacks," Williams said.
Many prominent North Carolinians posted their reactions to Saturday's shooting, including Governor Roy Cooper, who tweeted, "Another day of senseless, horrific gun violence. We in North Carolina stand with the people of El Paso as they endure this heartbreaking pain."
Pescaro, one of the survivors in April's mass shooting at UNC Charlotte, expressed anger Saturday, tweeting out, "This shooting today has me furious. The shooter (I won’t say his name) can go to hell. 20+ injured and multiple casualties I can’t stand this. My heart aches for these people and the city of El Paso. I hope I can work towards developing laws to prevent this for others."
Pescaro continued to post tweets on Sunday in response to the mass shooting in Dayton, including one post that reads, "I find it real funny when people tell me not to be emotionally charged when talking about and discussing solutions for gun violence. What should I just pretend I wasn’t almost killed by it?"