A Texas man caused controversy Friday when he arrived at the scene of the Santa Fe High School shooting near Houston with an American flag and a pistol on his hip.
Footage shared on Twitter by Scott McGrew, a reporter for an NBC News affiliate in San Francisco, showed two local reporters interviewing the man at a gas station near the shooting.
Ten people died in the attack — and the shooter and an accomplice were in custody, according to news reports.
"What was going through your head when you found out that this was going on?" one reporter asked the man, who was not identified in the footage.
"Get to the school, make America great again," he responded, wearing a red cap that featured President Donald Trump's campaign slogan.
"By doing what?" the reporter asked. "What was your plan of action?"
"Offering support," he said. "Just, 'God bless y'all' will go a long way right now for a lot of people."
"God bless y'all," he added and then walked away from the cameras.
However, another man, who told reporters that his son was in the school at the time of the shooting — though not injured — was outraged by the man.
"We need prayers, OK?" the man told reporters. "We need prayers.
"This idiot is walking down the street with a damn pistol on his side when we just had kids get shot," he said.
"I'm a gun-rights person, I have guns.
"But this idiot is walking down here and saying that he needs to make America great again," the man said. "That's not what America needs — America needs prayers.
"We don't need this crap.
"I'm sorry, I believe in the Second Amendment, I believe in everything, but this guy right here is walking into a crime scene with a pistol on him.
"This is an embarrassment."
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