President Obama came as a “father and as a husband” to offer hugs and sympathy on behalf of the nation to the victims of Friday’s movie-theater slaughter and their families.
Obama held emotional private meetings with grieving relatives of the dead and the survivors of the shooting spree.
“I come to them not so much as president as I do as a father and as a husband,” Obama told reporters after his visit at the University of Colorado Hospital, where 23 people were treated.
He did not name James Holmes, the crazed shooter at the request of several relatives of victims and local officials.
“I also tried to assure them that although the perpetrator of this evil act has received a lot of attention over the last couple of days, that attention will fade away,” he said.
“And in the end, after he has felt the full force of our justice system, what will be remembered are the good people who were impacted by this tragedy.”
Jordan Ghawi, whose 24-year-old sister, Jessica Ghawi, died in the attack, said the president struck the right tone.
“Not only was he there to express his condolences to them, but he wanted to learn who they were,” he wrote on his blog.
Obama said he had “a chance to give folks some hugs, and to shed some tears, but also to share some laughs as they remembered the wonderful lives that these wonderful people represented.”
One of the wounded survivors who talked with the president was Samantha Yowler. Her boyfriend, Matt McQuinn, had shielded her with his body inside the Aurora, Colo., theater — and was fatally struck with three bullets from Holmes’ fusillade.
Confined to a wheelchair with a severe leg wound, Yowler, who was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, was wheeled back in for the meeting with Obama.
“Seeing the president, she realizes the gravity of the shooting,” said family friend and spokesman Ron Scott. “She is still in shock.”
Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan, speaking to ABC, said, “I think the president coming in is a wonderful gesture.”
In recent years, Obama has led a memorial service for victims of the November 2009 Fort Hood, Texas, massacre; went to Tucson, Ariz., in 2011 after a gunman killed six people and wounded 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords; and visited the sites of natural disasters — including last month’s Colorado wildfires.