St. Louis Mayor made a joke out of a terrifying situation as gunshots rang out during an outdoor conference about that very problem Friday.
“Oh, isn’t that wonderful?” Mayor Tishaura Jones told reporters before carrying out her speech.
Later on, she took to Twitter to explain why she did not seem horrified after hearing shots ring out near the site where she was holding the conference.
“I don’t flinch when gunshots ring out; my son and I often fall asleep to a lullaby of gunshots,” she wrote.
“I hear my gunshots in my neighborhood every night. I’m the first mayor in over 20 years to be born, raised, and still live in north St. Louis, and it’s unfortunate, yes I heard it, but I didn’t flinch because I guess it’s part of my life now.”
The Mayor added that she had joined Kansas City Mayor in a tour, visiting gun violence survivors and victims and supporting local anti-violence programs.
“This is the sort of thing that happens in too many American cities,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas added.
“This community is working to do better for our babies like the tour we just took, and the neighborhood activists who are saying maybe things have been always for generations, but we are committed to doing better.”
