In a poignant moment during Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance shared a brief exchange of empathy when Walz recounted a traumatic incident involving his teenage son witnessing a shooting.

While discussing gun violence during the debate, Walz described school shootings as a parent’s “worst nightmare” and revealed that his son, Gus, had experienced gun violence firsthand.

“I’ve got a 17-year-old, and he witnessed a shooting at a community center while playing volleyball,” Walz said. This prompted Vance to respond with, “Awful.” Walz continued, “Those things don’t leave you.”

The shooting occurred in January 2023 at the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center in St. Paul, located near Central High School, where Gus was a student.

During an altercation outside the building, 27-year-old rec center employee Exavir Binford Jr. shot 16-year-old JuVaughn Turner in the head.

Court documents revealed that a fight between two teenagers escalated, leading Binford to shoot Turner before fleeing the scene.

Though Turner survived, he was left with permanent brain damage and now suffers from violent seizures, as reported by his family.

In February 2024, Binford was sentenced to over 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree assault. At his sentencing, an attorney representing Turner’s mother shared that Turner had undergone surgery to remove a portion of his skull due to his injuries.

While Walz had previously mentioned this personal tragedy, this debate marked the first time he spoke about it on a national stage.

Earlier, during a campaign speech on September 12 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Walz had criticized Vance for characterizing school shootings as a “fact of life” in America, while advocating for increased school security in response to the Apalachee High School shooting in Winder, Georgia.

“Think about that—families forever broken. Too many of us have been there,” Walz told supporters in Michigan. “My own son was in a place where someone was shot in the head. Too many of us have experienced this.”

The shooting at the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center has since become a significant talking point in Minnesota’s broader gun control debate.

Once a strong supporter of the NRA, Walz has evolved into a more progressive advocate for stricter gun laws, particularly in public spaces. He has pushed for policies allowing local governments to impose firearm restrictions in places like recreation centers.

In a Minnesota Public Radio interview earlier this year, Walz expressed support for gun-free zones in areas like the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center, saying, “As a parent of a youth who was at that facility, I think that would have been a good decision to keep those firearms out of there.”

The debate between Walz and Vance stood in stark contrast to the more combative September 10 debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Walz and Vance avoided personal attacks and found common ground on several issues, making for a notably more civil and empathetic exchange.