CNN correspondent collapses at Buffalo shooting scene: ‘Nothing will change’

CNN’s Victor Blackwell choked up on air Monday while reporting from the scene of the mass shooting that devastated Buffalo, New York, over the weekend.

“Listen, I was counting in the car, I was talking to my producer. I did 15,” the anchor and correspondent said of the shooting. “At least the ones I could count.”

“And we keep talking about how Democrats will say guns, Republicans will say mental health, and nothing will change. And I’ll probably do another one this year.

A white gunman opened fire at a Buffalo supermarket Saturday, shooting 13 people and killing 10. Most of them were black. Payton Gendron, 18, is accused of traveling about 200 miles to the area with the intention of killing as many black people as possible after researching local demographics, according to authorities. Gendron was arrested and pleaded not guilty.

Gendron allegedly legally purchased a semi-automatic assault rifle from a gun store in upstate New York. A racist online manifesto attributed to Gendron claims he modified the weapon using his father’s drill, the New York Times reported.

“We’ll get into a political conversation later, but is this how we’re supposed to live? asked Blackwell as he concluded his show. “Are we destined to continue doing this, city after city? Are we just resigned to the fact that this is what we are going to be?

The mass shooting was one of several shootings across the United States over the weekend. In California, a man opened fire Sunday during a lunch reception at a Southern California church. One person was killed and five others injured in what is described as a politically motivated attack. In Houston, two people were killed and three others injured after a shooting at a flea market on Sunday. There was also a series of shootings in North Carolina that left seven people injured.

This article was originally published on HuffPost and has been updated.

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