Gov. Josh Shapiro Asked Point Blank If He Thinks He Was Targeted Because Of His Faith

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At a press briefing on Wednesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) was asked if he thought he was targeted because of his faith.

Transcript

00:00directly. You've talked about it, but to ask directly, do you believe that you were targeted

00:04because of the faith? I think that's a question for the prosecutors to determine

00:08what the mens rea, what the motivation was for this crime. It's not for me to answer.

00:13And have you asked internally how this could happen? Have you asked PSP?

00:21We're having a lot of conversations with PSP, and they are doing a number of things. Number one,

00:28having an independent review of all security measures. Number two, taking concrete steps

00:35to improve our security measures. And I have confidence that they will both learn from this,

00:45make the changes that need to be made to keep my family and the Davis family safe,

00:50and that we'll be stronger going forward.

00:53Ryan, if you had an opportunity to speak to the suspect, what would you say?

00:58I really haven't thought about that, and I trust he'll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the

01:05law, as District Attorney Chardo has said.

01:09Do one more here.

01:10Brian, I don't mind.

01:10The fire suppression, I'm not sure if you answered that. I'm sorry.

01:13I was going to ask about the fire suppression.

01:15I'm sorry, I didn't answer that. Your question was?

01:18Was there a fire suppression system, not just in the room with the court work, but the entire?

01:22I don't know, but Secretary McNeil can provide all of that for you.

01:28Okay.

01:29I was going to ask about, Brian, in our line, said that having a fire suppression system or a sprinkler system

01:34in place would have extinguished that.

01:36Yeah.

01:37Is that going to be part of the upgrades?

01:39I don't.

01:40Secretary McNeil can answer all of those questions for you relative to the systems that were in place

01:46in the residence and what changes will be made going forward.

01:50And I'm sure Manuel can make the secretary available to all of you later today or tomorrow

01:55to answer those questions.

01:56Governor, discussing this with your children, was there a particular question that you found

02:00was challenging to answer?

02:04You know, obviously I want to keep the specifics of my conversations with my children private,

02:10but I think just in general, it's very hard as a parent to answer to children, like,

02:19why does this kind of stuff happen in life?

02:21Forget targeting me or my family or the governor's residence, but why are there people out there

02:30that want to do harm to others?

02:31Those are hard questions to answer for kids.

02:33And I don't proclaim to have a monopoly on good answers.

02:38I'm sure there are other parents out there who could do a much better job of explaining

02:43that to their kids.

02:44I think the most important thing I can do for my kids right now is to answer the specifics

02:51that I know so that they have the information they need and to just hug them a lot, kiss

02:57them a lot, and let them know that they're safe and that they're going to be okay.

03:01And just get them back into their normal routine as much as possible.

03:07Did you hear from President Trump at all after this?

03:10I haven't, no.

03:11The police said that Palmer had, that he said on a 911 call, that he will not take part in

03:19your plans for what you want to do to the Palestinian people.

03:23What do you make of that?

03:24What does that mean?

03:27I don't know.

03:27I think that's a question for prosecutors to determine what he meant by that and to

03:33prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.

03:35Thank you, guys.

03:36Okay.

03:36Hey, I just want to say to all of you who are there Sunday and to Dad, I know we interact

03:43with one another very regularly, always trying to answer your questions.

03:46I want to say thank you for the personal sentiments that you've shared with me and my family.

03:52I appreciate that.

03:54And I appreciate the sensitivity within which you ask the questions and you all go about

03:58doing your jobs every day.

03:59So thank you.

04:01See you all later.

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