Lois Capps: “Today, I rise with a heavy heart. On Friday night, my home community was rocked by unspeakable violence, which left six…”

“Today, I rise with a heavy heart. On Friday night, my home community was rocked by unspeakable violence, which left six students and their assailant dead and 13 others injured. The rampage shook the communities of Isla Vista and the University of California in Santa Barbara, Californians, and the Nation. Last night, I joined with my community at UCSB and in Isla Vista to honor those we lost. Together, we have taken the first steps towards making sense of the senseless. It will be a long journey. We have many questions, and over the weeks and months ahead perhaps more will be posed than we can answer. But we will work through it together. While we all struggle to make sense of this tragedy, I want to thank you, my colleagues, and communities across the Nation for your prayers, your kind words, and your support. This act was fueled by hate, but in the wake of this tragedy, we as a Nation have shown that in a dark time we do not walk alone, we do not grieve alone, so we will not have to heal alone. Today, we remember the victims: George Chen; ``James'' Chung You-on Hong; Way-han ``David'' Wang; Katherine Breann Cooper; Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez; and Veronika Weiss. We send our deepest sympathies to their families and to their friends. We lend support to the injured. We pledge to stand with the Santa Barbara community, and all those touched by violence, to do all we can to prevent this sort of tragedy in the future. Mr.…”