“I think that mental health is your problem here,” Trump said during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan in response to a question about the massacre in Sutherland Springs, Texas. “This was a very — based on preliminary reports — a very deranged individual. A lot of problems over a long period of time.”
Police have identified the shooter as Devin Kelly, 26, but have not issued an assessment about his mental health. Kelley reportedly received a bad conduct discharge from the Air Force in 2014 over allegations of domestic violence.
The president said that “we have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries, but this isn’t a guns situation.”
“This is a mental health problem at the highest level, it’s a very, very sad event,” Trump added .
Authorities said the gunman opened fire with a variant of the AR-15, a popular, high-powered rifle that is based on the military's M-16.