Kerr and Curry call Trump assassination attempt sad day for America

Steve Kerr, coach of the US Olympic basketball team, whose father was shot dead 40 years ago, called the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump a demoralizing day for America that highlighted a dangerous gun culture.

Kerr, an outspoken critic of Trump and advocate for gun control, lost his father Malcolm Kerr in 1984 when he was shot by the militant group Islamic Jihad while he was president of the American University of Beirut.

“Just a terribly sad spectacle. Two dead, it’s such a demoralizing day for our country,” Kerr said Sunday during a U.S. team practice in Abu Dhabi.

“It’s another example of not only our political divisions, but our gun culture, a 20-year-old with an AR-15 trying to shoot the former president. It’s hard to process it all, and it’s scary to think where this is going.”

Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by the Secret Service seconds after shots were fired at the podium where Trump spoke in Pennsylvania on Saturday. One person attending the rally was killed and two other spectators were wounded.

Kerr said the incident strengthened the team’s determination to represent the nation well at the Paris Olympics. “It makes you want to do that even more because this is really embarrassing.”

American point guard Stephen Curry has also been an outspoken critic of Trump. After his Golden State Warriors won the NBA title in 2017, he refused to visit the White House.

“(It) stirs up a lot of emotions around issues that we need to correct as a people, obviously gun control first and foremost,” Curry said of the attack on Trump. “It adds another taint to what’s going on, sadness is the word.”

The Americans are the reigning champions and favorites to win gold in Paris.