On Fox News Sunday, political commentator Juan Williams spoke out against pointing fingers and blaming the right for Saturday’s Tucson, Ariz. shooting that left six dead, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in serious condition, and many more injured.
“Well, obviously, this is a horrific event, and it’s the kind of thing that just chills you and makes you worry about a free and open government… but it doesn’t mean you should be free to attack people,” Williams said. “I think it’s important to say this, as someone left of center, that you can’t just blame this on some kind of right-wing rhetoric. I mean, clearly, I think this kid was unstable.”
Williams noted that Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old gunman, has been linked to American Renaissance, an anti-government and anti-Semitic organization.
“I think there is the temptation to say, ‘Oh, this is a result of right-wing attacks,’ but you know, my sense is that, let’s wait a second and let’s make sure about any kind of connections.”
Williams also expressed a general concern about Arizona, particularly the fact that the shooting happened at all in the Grand Canyon state.
“I do have worries about Arizona, I think the sheriff down there said it yesterday when he said that there’s too much of this kind of anti-immigrant fervor going on in Arizona,” Williams said. “Some people call it the new Birmingham because of the intolerance that’s demonstrated in much of the state… I think the people in Arizona have to stop for a second and think about exactly why they are so angry and why this incident happened in Arizona.”
WATCH: Juan Williams discuss the Arizona shooting