Biden to travel to Maine days after mass shooting
U.S. President Joe Biden holds an event about American retirement economics in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, October 31, 2023.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Maine on Friday to honor the victims of an October mass shooting that killed 18 people.

In a statement Wednesday, the White House said the Bidens "will pay respects to the victims of this horrific attack and grieve with families and community members, as well as meet with first responders, nurses, and others on the front lines of the response."

On Oct. 25, a gunman opened fire at the Just-In-Time bowling alley and Schemengees Bar and Grille in Lewiston, Maine. He was found dead two days later from "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," according to Maine Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck.

The deputy director of the White House's Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Greg Jackson, is in Maine, White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said Wednesday.

In a statement after the shooting, Biden called on Republicans in Congress to "fulfill their duty to protect the American people."

"Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to enact universal background checks, to require safe storage of guns, and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers," Biden said. "This is the very least we owe every American who will now bear the scars — physical and mental — of this latest attack."