Obama: U.S., Canada ‘Coordinating Very Closely’ On Ottawa Shootings

Barack Obama Barack Obama meets with Ebola Response Team, Washington D.C., America - 16 Oct 2014 United States President Barack Obama addresses the media following a meeting with his team coordinating the governmen... Barack Obama Barack Obama meets with Ebola Response Team, Washington D.C., America - 16 Oct 2014 United States President Barack Obama addresses the media following a meeting with his team coordinating the government's Ebola response, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C.. Obama met with Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Denis McDonough, White House Chief of Staff, Susan Rice, National Security Advisor, Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Rex Features via AP Images) MORE LESS
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President Obama on Wednesday expressed concern about the shootings in Ottawa, Canada and said that the U.S. is working with Canada to determine whether the shootings were a terrorist attack.

“Just two days ago, a Canadian soldier had been killed in an attack. We now know that another young man was killed today. And I expressed on the behalf of the American people, our condolences to the family and to the Canadian people as a whole,” Obama said during brief remarks at the White House.

“We don’t yet have all the information about what motivated the shooting. We don’t yet have all the information about whether this was part of a broader network or a plan or whether this was an individual or series of individuals who decided to take these actions,” he continued.

The President said that the national security teams in the U.S. and Canada are “coordinating very closely.”

“It is very important, I think, for us to recognize that when it comes to dealing with terrorist activity that Canada and the United States have to be entirely in sync,” Obama said. “We have in the past and I’m confident we will continue to do so in the future.”

He said that the shooting “emphasizes the degree to which we have to remain vigilant when it comes to dealing with these kinds of acts of senseless violence or terror.”

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