Trump visits Florida hospital and sheriff’s office in brief visit after shooting

President Donald Trump made a surprise visit Friday night to a Broward hospital treating some victims of this week’s shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland.

Trump said he had met with victims at the hospital: “It’s sad something like that could happen,” he said, according to a White House press pool report.

Standing in a hallway with first lady Melania Trump, he shook hands with an unnamed doctor and said he was impressed with the speed of first responders, calling it “record-setting.”

He did not respond when asked if the nation’s gun laws need to be changed and then walked to another room.

The visit had not been announced publicly. It comes after one of the worst school shootings in American history, and as some Parkland survivors and the parents of those killed are demanding Trump lead a reform of gun laws.

A pool report said the Trumps made the 50-minute trip by motorcade to Broward. They had arrived earlier in the day to visit his company’s for-profit club in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago.

The Washington Post reported he also visited the Broward Sheriff’s Office, congratulating officers for their response to the Parkland shooting. “Incredible job, and everybody is talking about it,” Trump said from a fifth-floor conference room at the agency’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters.

The report from the Post reporter who accompanied the presidential motorcade to Broward said Trump spent about 35 minutes at the hospital in Pompano Beach and had a slightly longer visit at the sheriff’s office. The Post described the visit as typical for Trump after a natural disaster or massacre, noting he “spent much of his time congratulating the responders instead of memorializing the victims.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2018 at 4:51 AM with the headline "Trump visits Florida hospital and sheriff’s office in brief visit after shooting."