Marjorie Taylor Greene has said Americans need to look into antidepressant drugs and “other factors that cause mass shootings” after a gunman killed eight people at a mall in Allen, Texas, on Saturday afternoon.
The attacker was shot and killed by a police officer who was at the mall answering an unrelated call. Speaking Saturday night, Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven other people were receiving medical treatment after being injured, three of them in critical condition.
The latest bloodshed has reignited the heated debate over gun violence in the United States, with the country recording 199 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Archive of Gun Violence.
Greene retweeted a video purporting to show the Allen gunman, dressed in black and lying in a pool of blood after being shot by a police officer. She commented: “This is exactly what this monster deserves.
This is exactly what this monster deserves.
Thank God for the brave officer who bravely ran into the line of fire to save others.
We pray for the victims and their families and for an end to mental illness, drugs and the forces of evil that cause people to commit such horrors. https://t.co/1dcXP1VxlY
— Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 7, 2023
“Thank God for the brave officer who bravely ran into the line of fire to save others.
“We pray for the victims and their families and for an end to mental illness, drugs and the forces of evil that cause people to commit such horrors.”
The House Republican continued: “The federal government must partner with the states for mental hospitals and drug rehab centers for the good of our society.
The federal government should partner with the states for psychiatric hospitals and drug rehab centers for the good of our society.
We must fund and support police officers and prosecutors must put criminals behind bars.
We need to study SSRIs and other factors that cause mass…
— Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 7, 2023
“We must fund and support the police and prosecutors must put criminals behind bars.
“We need to study SSRIs and other factors that cause mass shootings.
“Our nation is plagued by mental illness, drug addiction, homelessness and out-of-control crime. We have to fix it.”
SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, are a class of medications often used to treat depression and related mental health conditions. Medical experts have previously ruled out any primary link between SSRIs and mass shootings.
Alex Wong/GETTY
Greene’s comments drew a mixed reaction on Twitter, with some people praising the police, while others suggested that Greene was trying to divert attention from guns.
One Twitter user responded: “If you’re going to be dumb you better be tough. Nice guy with a gun to win.”
Another added: “Only in Biden’s America.”
However, other users zeroed in on the issue of firearms, writing: “Stop praying for the victims and pass sensible gun laws that have the overwhelming support of Americans.”
A second sarcastically added: “But it’s not the guns, is it?”
news week has contacted Marjorie Taylor Greene for comment by calling her Washington DC office.
Greene, a high-profile ally of Donald Trump, claimed she had the “evidence” needed to impeach President Biden on Wednesday.
She has been touted as a potential Trump running mate for 2024, though a recent Rasmussen poll predicted the Republican matchup would lose to Biden/Harris by 44 percent of the vote to 40 percent.