Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton weighed in on the issue of fatal gun shootings by police during an interview on Friday with Rachel Maddow during a candidate forum.
"The Walter Scott shooting. I mean, why? It makes no sense why that happened," Clinton said. "So I think that we've got to do a better job working with people in positions of authority to deal with the run-of-the-mill disciplinary issues or the problems on the street."
Clinton mentioned that she met earlier this week with the mothers of Michael Brown, Dontre Hamilton, and Tamir Rice -- all shot and killed by police -- as well as Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin, who were killed in Florida shootings.
"As I was sitting in that meeting listening to the pain and the anguish of the mothers talking to me, a 9-year-old boy in Chicago -- on his way to his grandmother's house, holding his basketball which he took everywhere with him -- was lured into an alley and shot. He was assassinated because of some kind of gang-related feud involving, apparently, his father" Clinton told Maddow. "This has to end. It's one of the reasons why I am so passionate about gun safety and ending the violence -- whoever uses the gun."
While gun violence is "particularly troubling" when it comes from people in positions of authority, the former secretary of state said, she was not ignoring street-related violence. She also said that guns do not have to be "the only tool" given to law enforcement officers to deal with tough situations.
At one point, Clinton said she "still can't get over" the death of Eric Garner, who was fatally choked by a New York City police officer after an encounter involving the sale of loose cigarettes.
"Did he deserve to die because of that? Absolutely not," she said of Garner.
Watch the interview, as posted online on Friday, below.
