Team USA basketball coach Steve Kerr, who lost his father to gun violence, decried the shooting of former President Donald Trump and called the event “a demoralizing day for our country” on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, where the U.S. men’s Olympic team is preparing in advance of the Paris Olympics, Kerr said the shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday was a “terrible, sad spectacle.”
“Yet another example of not only our political division, but also our gun culture,” Kerr said.
In a statement, Trump said a bullet “pierced the upper part of my right ear.” A visibly bloody Trump was taken to a local hospital for an examination before flying to New Jersey, where he was to spend the night at his golf club in Bedminister.
One rally spectator was killed and two others injured.
“You can only imagine what their family and friends today are feeling,” Kerr said. “Thank God Trump wasn’t killed. It’s just demoralizing in every which way.”
Kerr’s father, Malcolm, was shot in killed in 1984 in Beirut, where he was president of American University.
Kerr said he is calling on his team to serve as ambassadors for the nation during the Olympic journey.
“I feel very proud to represent our country, wear USA on our chest,” he said. “We talk to the players about how important it is to show the best version of us, as human beings, to represent our country in a respectable and dignified manner.
“It makes you want to do it even more so. What we’re doing is very trivial, we’re playing basketball. But we want to put our best selves out there, try to give people a glimpse of what our country can be about.”