UVALDE, Texas — After 19 children and two adults were killed at a Uvalde elementary school Tuesday, actor Matthew McConaughey, a Uvalde native and Longview High School alumnus, called mass shootings "an epidemic we can control" and said "action must be taken."
"Once again, we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us," McConaughey said in a statement on his social media pages.
McConaughey was born in Uvalde and grew up there until moving to Longview and graduating from the East Texas high school in the 1980s.
According to the Associated Press, a Texas Department of Public Safety official said the shooter Salvador Ramos “barricaded himself" into one fourth-grade classroom and started shooting teachers and children at Robb Elementary.
McConaughey said to the parents and loved ones who dropped off their kids Tuesday morning, "no words can comprehend or heal your loss, but if prayers can provide comfort, we will keep them coming."
The actor, who currently lives in Austin, did not specifically mention gun reform or restrictions in his statement, but he asked people to reevaluate and renegotiate their wants from their needs.
"We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue," McConaughey said.
In his statement, McConaughey asked that all Americans take a long, deep look in the mirror and ask what small sacrifices can be made individually to reserve a healthier and safer nation.
"We cannot exhale once again, make excuses and accept these tragic realities as the status quo," he said.