President Biden To Meet Families Of Maine Shooting Victims

| Watch Live | Biden Delivers Remarks To Families in Lewiston, Maine

One week after 18 people were killed in a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, the community is preparing to welcome President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

They will be meeting with families and first responders on Friday afternoon.

"I deeply appreciate President Biden's unwavering support of us in the wake of last week's horrific tragedy. By visiting us in our time of need, the President and First Lady are making clear that the entire nation stands with Lewiston and with Maine - and for that, I am profoundly grateful," Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Mills will meet the Bidens when they land around 2:30 p.m. She will escort them to a gathering with first responders and then to a closed-door meeting with the families of the victims.

Leroy Walker, an Auburn councilor whose son Joey was killed in the shooting, will be at the meeting. He told WBZ-TV he hopes he hears something different from the president about what's being done to prevent the next mass shooting.

"I don't think we're ever going to get all the answers (to) how this happened and how it slipped through," Walker said. "We should be working on more being prepared for the next one and making sure we're a lot better at all of it, right from before it started, to where it started, to where the end of it is. We missed so many things, with this young man, all the way to the shooting. I feel that they were really sloppy even after that. We have a lot to learn, all of us."

"Recovering from this attack will be long and difficult, and President Biden is committed to marshaling resources from across the federal government to support Lewiston every step of the way," Stefanie Feldman, the Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, said in a statement.

Thirteen people were also wounded in the shootings at a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston on October 25. It was the deadliest shooting in Maine's history.

Last week, the president ordered flags to fly at half-staff through Monday to honor the victims.