Face of Nation : Several hundred anti-gun violence activists with Moms Demand Action protested outside the White House on Saturday evening, hours after a gunman killed 20 people and injured two dozen others in a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas.
According to Washington, D.C., CBS affiliate WUSA, roughly 2,000 members of the group were already in the nation’s capital for a conference this weekend. Upon hearing of the latest gun-related massacre, the activists took to the streets of Washington with protest signs and their signature red T-shirts, making stops at the White House, the Trump Hotel down the street and the U.S. Capitol building.
According to the group’s website, Moms Demand Action is a grassroots organization “fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.” The group backs stronger gun laws and works in local communities “to encourage a culture of responsible gun ownership.”
Earlier on Saturday, a man wielding an assault-style rifle opened killed 20 people and injured more than two dozen others at the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas, with most of the attack victims shot at a nearby Walmart, law enforcement officials told the Associated Press.
Two law enforcement officials who spoke to the AP identified the suspected shooter as Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old white man from the Dallas suburb of Allen, Texas. He was taken into police custody without incident. El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said the attack “has a nexus to a hate crime,” with authorities citing an online manifesto posted by the suspect describing “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” as one motivation.
