Holder to speak Thursday at Kansas shooting memorial

Attorney General Eric Holder is slated to speak at a Thursday memorial service for the victims of Sunday’s shootings at two Kansas Jewish community centers. 

Holder announced Tuesday he will give remarks at an interfaith service “of unity and hope” in Overland Park, Kan., after a gunman shot and killed three people over the weekend in what is being called a hate crime. 

{mosads}Earlier in the day, Holder urged Congress to approve an additional $15 million in active-shooter training for police around the country. In a weekly video message, Holder said tens of thousands of officers had already received training through the program. 

His announcement comes in a month that has seen two active shooter situations make national headlines: One in Kansas and another two weeks ago at Fort Hood, Texas, in which a gunman killed three people and injured 16 before killing himself. 

“As a nation, we must confront this alarming rise and all of its underlying causes — honestly, factually, and without regard for political consequence,” Holder said.

Frazier Glenn Cross, the suspected shooter, had been active in white supremacist groups and has previously been convicted on weapons charges. The shootings took place just before the Jewish holiday of Passover began Monday.

He was charged with one count of capital murder and another count of first-degree murder on Tuesday. The U.S. attorney in the state said it would be filing hate crime violations in the “not too distant future.”