Several hundred anti-gun violence activists with Moms Demand Action protested outside the White House on Saturday evening, hours after a gunman killed 20 people and injured two dozen others in a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas.
According to Washington, D.C., CBS affiliate WUSA, roughly 2,000 members of the group were already in the nation’s capital for a conference this weekend.
Upon hearing of the latest gun-related massacre, the activists took to the streets of Washington with protest signs and their signature red T-shirts, making stops at the White House, the Trump Hotel down the street and the U.S. Capitol building, WUSA reported.
According to the group’s website, Moms Demand Action is a grassroots organization “fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.” The group backs stronger gun laws and works in local communities “to encourage a culture of responsible gun ownership.”
Earlier on Saturday, a man wielding an assault-style rifle opened killed 20 people and injured more than two dozen others at the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas, with most of the attack victims shot at a nearby Walmart, law enforcement officials told the Associated Press.
Two law enforcement officials who spoke to the AP identified the suspected shooter as Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old white man from the Dallas suburb of Allen, Texas. He was taken into police custody without incident.
El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said the attack “has a nexus to a hate crime,” with authorities citing an online manifesto posted by the suspect describing “the Hispanic invasion of Texas” as one motivation.
Watch WUSA’s full report on the Moms Demand Action protest above.