Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and the rest of Team USA were practicing in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the Paris Olympics when they received the news of the attempted assassination attack on former President Donald Trump.
"This is a time where we feel very proud to represent our country wearing USA on our chest, competing in the Olympics," Kerr said (h/t ESPN.com). "We've talked to the players about how important it is to show the best version of us as human beings to represent our country in a respectful, dignified manner. It makes you want to do that even more so, because this is really shameful for us to sit here and think about what happened and what's going on in our country."
The attack occurred Saturday at Trump's campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The former president appeared to have been shot near his ear, with his campaign later stating he was safe and OK.
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One spectator was killed, and the shooter, who appeared to open fire from an elevated building outside the venue, also is dead. Another two spectators were critically injured.
The FBI identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. A motive was not immediately clear.
"Just a terrible, sad spectacle with two people dying," Kerr said. "... It's such a demoralizing day for our country, and it's yet another example of not only our political division but also gun culture. A 20-year-old with an AR-15 trying to shoot the former president. It's hard to process everything, and it's scary to think about where this goes because of the issues that already exist in the country. So this is a terrible day.
"Thank God Trump wasn't hit, but it's just so demoralizing in every which way."
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Trump was just over five minutes into his remarks when pops of gunfire rang out. He appeared to grab his right ear and get to the floor, where he immediately was swarmed by Secret Service agents.
The agents then helped Trump to his feet, surrounded him and rushed him offstage to a waiting vehicle. Trump — with blood on the side of his head and ear — repeatedly pumped his fist in the air and waved as the crowd cheered.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social a couple hours later that a bullet “pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
"It's obviously a very sad time in general," Curry said. "All the conversations around the election and the state of politics in our country, and then you have a situation like this, which just [evokes] a lot of emotions around things that we need to correct as a people.
"Obviously, gun control first and foremost, because the fact that that's even possible for somebody to have an attack like that. But just more so you want to [see] positivity and hope. It sounds cheesy, but it's real. That's when our country's at its best, and it just adds another blemish to what's going on. So sad is just the word."
Team USA will remain in the Middle East this week before playing Olympic preparation games this week.
"Obviously what we're doing is very trivial, just playing basketball, but we want to put our best selves out there to try to give people a glimpse of what our country can be about," Kerr said. "And then you hear something like this and it's just so demoralizing and obviously so sad."
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