Steve Kerr gets emotional when discussing mass shooting at Texas elementary school

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Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made it a point to tell reporters on Tuesday that he wouldn't be discussing basketball ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

Those plans changed in wake of the mass shooting earlier in the day at an elementary school in Texas which left at least 18 children and a teacher dead, according to Gov. Greg Abbott. Kerr stated that any basketball questions didn't matter. 

Kerr then got emotional when talking to reporters about the shooting ahead of the playoff game between the Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks. 

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr speaks Sunday, April 3, 2022, to local media. (AP Photo/José Luis Villegas)

"Since we left shootaround 14 children [and a teacher] were killed 400 miles from here and 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," the coach stated. 

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"When are we going to do something?!" Kerr then shouted, his voice breaking as he pounded the table several times. 

"I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. I’m so tired of the moments of silence. Enough!" he added. 

Kerr has advocated for gun control in the past after his own father, Malcolm was shot and killed by gunmen while serving as the president of the American University of Beirut.

"There’s 50 senators right now who refuse to vote on HR-8 [Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021], which is a background check rule that the House passed a couple of years ago. It's been sitting there for two years," Kerr said. "There’s a reason they won’t vote on it, to hold onto power."

Law enforcement personnel walk outside Uvalde High School after shooting a was reported earlier in the day at Robb Elementary School, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

"So I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings," he added. "I ask you, are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly, and our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like."

LEBRON JAMES EXPRESSES ANGER, CALLS FOR CHANGE AFTER MASS SHOOTING AT TEXAS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

The 18-year-old suspected gunman had a handgun and possibly a rifle when he opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, located about 85 miles southwest of San Antonio. The gunman acted alone and was likely killed by responding officers, but the investigation was still ongoing, authorities said. 

"It's what we do every week," Kerr stated. "So 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, or mother or father or sister, brother. How would you feel if this happened to you today? We can’t get numb to this."

Kerr said the Warriors would play in the playoff game Tuesday evening, as they look to close out the series. But he argued the public can't just sit there, have a moment of silence and yell, "Go Dubs! Come on Mavs, let's go!"

Head coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors stands for a moment of silence for the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX prior to in Game Four of the 2022 NBA Playoffs Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center on May 24, 2022, in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

"That’s what we’re gonna do," Kerr said. "We’re gonna go play a basketball game. And 50 senators in Washington are going to hold us hostage. Do you realize that 90% of Americans, regardless of political party, want universal background checks? 90% of us!

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"We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we the American people want," he added. "They won’t vote on it because they want to hold onto their own power. It’s pathetic! I’ve had enough."

Fox News' Greg Norman and Louis Casiano contributed to this report