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Friend,

As you've probably heard, there was an unspeakable act of violence in Grand Blanc, Michigan, yesterday. This time, targeting a peaceful and crowded place of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worship. A gunman crashed his car into the church, set fire to the building, and started shooting. At this time, there are four deceased, with more injured and at the hospital, and a small community just down the road from my farm, shocked to their core.

I visited Grand Blanc township this morning, along with both Democratic and Republican elected leaders at the local, state, and federal level. There’s a feeling of shock and pain with such a senseless act of violence. One of the things keeping people afloat is the extraordinary performance of regional law enforcement, first responders and hospital staff — and the way that community members are coming together to lift the survivors up.

Unfortunately, as the previous representative of other sites of mass shootings over the last four years — Oxford High School, Michigan State, the Rochester Hills splash pad and another church in Wayne, MI — my team and I know how to react to a heinous attack like this. We are part of a terrible fraternity of officials who have mass shootings come to their communities. My team and I exchanged best practices with local officials this morning because we have already been through these crises many times.

In addition to the meeting and the visit to the church site, I made the point of appearing on camera together with both Democratic and Republican elected officials. While we may disagree on a whole host of issues, we agree wholeheartedly on the importance of taking a breath, coming together, and shunning the conspiracy theories and politicized rhetoric that’s already on social media.

The truth is, no matter his motive, nothing could ever justify the death of these innocents — and nothing can bring them back. Real leaders should therefore be helping to bring people together, not amping up the rhetoric to try and split people apart.

Elissa


PAID FOR BY ELISSA SLOTKIN FOR MICHIGAN

P.O. Box 4145
East Lansing, MI 48826

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Elissa Slotkin served in the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense. Use of her job titles and photographs during service do not imply endorsement by the Central Intelligence Agency OR the Department of Defense.