Flags Lowered At Utica City Hall To Honor Arizona Victims

Utica, NY (WIBX) - Utica Mayor David Roefaro lowered the flag at City Hall this morning to honor the victims of the Tucson, Arizona tragedy that occurred over the weekend.Roefaro said regardless of the reasons behind the senseless attack, the gunman should be held accountable for his action. He said, "Whether's it's political rhetoric or whatever they believe it is--there is no justification for what has happened--that's never justification for violence and that has got to stop.  And the parties that are responsible for this should be held accountable. I believe that everyone in this country is doing the best that they can. These are very tumultuous times in this country--these are very tough times. During tough times tempers flares but tempers should never flare to this magnitude."

When asked if he would call for politicians to tone down the heated political rhetoric Roefaro said, "political rhetoric is what it is" however, he added that he doesn't believe it's needed at this time. He referred to Governor Andrew Cuomo's recent state-of-the-state address when he talked about politicians coming together from both sides of the aisle to find solutions to the nations problems. Roefaro said, "We all need to come together from both sides of the aisle because this problem in our country is bigger than all of us. It's not a Democrat or Republican issue, it's an issue of American citizens doing what they can to actually make our country thrive again, and that's what we need to do--a coming together of everyone."

Roefaro said many things go through his head when these types of incidents occur saying, "These are things as elected officials that we always worry about because you hear about these things throughout the country and you think that it can never happen in your community, but we always worry about that. Sometimes you have a copy cat who wants to get his name in the paper, or you see someone who is not really excited with the system and they take the law into their own hands and they got to know that they can not do this." Roefaro said violence won't solve the problems the nation is facing--but coming together to work on them will. President Obama ordered all flags at government buildings to be lowered to half staff to honor the victims.