Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz said during his debate with Republican nominee JD Vance in New York City on Tuesday that his son witnessed a shooting, prompting an outpouring of sympathy from Vance.
While discussing gun violence during the year’s first and likely only vice presidential debate, Walz, the governor of Minnesota, described school shootings as the “worst nightmare” of parents before saying that his 17-year-old son Gus had witnessed a shooting at a community center.
“Look, I’ve got a 17-year-old and he witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball,” said Walz, prompting a quick response of “awful” from Vance. “Those things don’t leave you.”
The Democratic candidate later said he “100 percent believes” that Vance, a U.S. senator representing Ohio, “hates it” when school shootings occur, but that Vance’s policies for combating gun violence were “not enough.”
Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz are pictured greeting each other before their vice presidential debate in New York City on October 1. Vance expressed sympathy for Walz after the Democratic nominee said during the debate that his son Gus witnessed a shooting at a community center.
Anna Moneymaker
“Tim, first of all, I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting,” Vance said while responding to Walz. “And I’m sorry about that and I hope that he’s doing OK. Christ have mercy. It is awful.”
The location and date of the shooting that Gus Walz purportedly witnessed was unclear at the time of publication. Newsweek reached out for comment to the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz via email on Tuesday night.
The Walz-Vance debate was generally less contentious than the September 10 debate between Harris and former President Donald Trump, with both of the vice presidential candidates spending less time personally attacking their opponent and instead finding common ground on more than one occasion.
A CBS News/YouGov poll released on Monday found that large majorities of registered voters wanted Walz and Vance to focus on issues like the economy and immigration at the debate. Only 14 percent wanted them to spend time criticizing one another.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
