'Enough!' Warriors Coach Steve Kerr Gives Impassioned Plea On Shooting

CALIFORNIA — In the hours before the Golden State Warriors faced off against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals Tuesday, Warriors Coach Steve Kerr's mind was elsewhere.

Like Americans everywhere, he was thinking about the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that took the lives of at least 19 children and two adults. And he was thinking about the 10 people killed at a Buffalo grocery store days earlier and the six worshippers shot at a Golden State church the next day.

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With the tipoff looming and a chance to close out the Mavericks and head to the finals, Kerr told a roomful of sports reporters he didn’t want to talk about basketball.

Instead, he gave an emotional three-minute speech.

“In the last 10 days we've had elderly black people killed in a supermarket in Buffalo. We've had Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California. And now we have children murdered at school," he said pounding his fist on the table. "When are we going to do something!”

"I’m tired. I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there," said Kerr. "I’m so tired. Excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough."

Tuesday was the deadliest grade school shooting since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown 10 years ago. However, it was just one of several mass shootings in the United States this month, several of which were marked by moments of silence during the basketball playoffs this week.

Kerr urged Congress to mandate background checks for gun purchases.

“I’m fed up. I’ve had enough. We’re going to play the game tonight. But I want every person here, every person listening to this, to think about your own child or grandchild, mother or father, sister, brother. How would you feel if this happened to you today?” Kerr asked.