Vice President JD Vance is defending "the idea of prayer in response to tragedy" after the Catholic school shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday that killed two children.
His comments follow the backlash Mayor Jacob Frey received after rejecting "thoughts and prayers" during a news conference after the tragedy.
"Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now," Frey said. "These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church. These are kids that should be learning with their friends. They should be playing on the playground. They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence, and their parents should have the same kind of assurance."
Vance called it "shocking" for "so many left-wing politicians" to attack the idea and added that "no one thinks prayer is a substitute for action."
"We pray because our hearts are broken and we believe that God is listening," he wrote in a post on X.
During a visit to La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Thursday, Vance solidified his stance by leading a prayer for the two children who were killed.
"This is a prayer we say a lot in my church, and I've always found it very meaningful," Vance said.
The vice president also responded to former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who said, "prayer is not freaking enough."
"Of all the weird left wing culture wars in the last few years, this is by far the most bizarre. 'How dare you pray for innocent people in the midst of tragedy?!' What are you even talking about?" Vance wrote.
Although Vance recognized a mental health crisis in the U.S., during his speech in Wisconsin, he said there is a time and place for politics and it is not now.
"How to prevent this stuff from happening, how to make these shootings less common in our country. And I'm not going to speak about that now," Vance said.
Vance said that the president, First Lady and himself were going to figure out the root cause of what caused this tragedy. He recognized that many people are impacted by the horrific event, saying, "We are all American."
"My son, my little five-year-old, I love him so much. And, if you're watching, buddy, daddy loves you. He started his first day of kindergarten just two days ago. And again, we're very proud of him, and we love him very much. But I know that there are a lot of families who were in their first week of school just outside of Minneapolis, and that was pierced. That incredibly pure and wonderful moment was pierced by a very vicious and a very evil person," Vance said.
Children were praying during Mass on the first week of school when the shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman, started firing through the stained-glass windows of the church.
Westman died by a self-inflicted gunshot behind the church, according to police.
The children killed in the shooting were 8 and 10 years old. Fifteen of the 18 injured were children ages 6 to 15.
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