Shapiro also took a moment to condemn
some of the online support the killing has received from people who feel that insurance companies place shareholder profits and executive suite pay above their customers’ medical needs and lives.
“In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint,” he said. “I understand
people have real frustration with our healthcare system. I have worked to address that throughout my career. But I have no tolerance, nor should anyone, for one man using an illegal ghost gun to murder someone because he thinks his opinion matters most. In a civil society, we are all less safe when idealogues engage in vigilante justice.
“In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. here me on this: He is no hero. The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald’s this morning.
“Let’s be mindful not to dehumanize [Thomopson] and make him just an avatar of a system that is disliked by many. He was a father, he was a husband. He did not deserve to die like this on a sidewalk in New York City.”
When asked about the similarities between Thompson’s death and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler on July 13, Shapiro said, “Violence can never be used to address political differences or to address a substantive difference or to try to prove some sort of ideological point.”
“That is not what we do in a civilized society. That was true in Butler, it was true in New York City, and it is true anywhere. That is not how you make progress in this country,” he said.
“The suspect here ... is a coward, not a hero. And we need to make sure that in this country we get back to having a civil discourse about our differences. That is an important lesson coming out of Pennsylvania and it is one that I think the rest of the nation needs to hear.”