Updated 2:40 p.m. ET
President Barack Obama spoke briefly Monday about the unfolding news surrounding a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., insisting that the perpetrators behind the shooting must be brought to justice.
“We’re confronting yet another mass shooting,” President Obama said at the top of remarks he was scheduled to make on the five-year anniversary of the 2008 U.S. financial crisis. “And today it happened on a military installation in our nation’s capital. It targeted our military and civilian personnel."
"These are men and women who were going to work, doing their job protecting all of us," he said. "They're patriots, and they know the dangers of serving abroad, but today they faced the unimaginable violence that they wouldn't have expected here at home."
"As this investigation moves forward, we will do everything in our power to make sure whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible," he added later.
He also praised the "patriots" who found themselves in harm's way, offering the thoughts and prayers of the nation to the victims and their families.
"In the meantime, we send our thoughts and prayers to all at the Navy Yard who have been touched by this tragedy. We thank them for their service. We stand with the families of those who've been harmed. They're going to need our love and support," he said. "And as we learn more about the courageous Americans who died today-- their lives, their families, their patriotism--we will honor their service to the nation they helped to make great, and obviously we're going to be investigating thoroughly what happened, as we do so many of these shootings, sadly, that have happened, and do everything that we can to try to prevent them."