Philip Mudd, counterterrorism analyst and former deputy director of the FBI's national security branch, could not hold back tears while discussing the tragedy with Wolf Blitzer.
Philip Mudd, a counterterrorism analyst and former deputy director of the FBI, became emotional while discussing Wednesday's
shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in
Parkland,
Florida.
Speaking with
CNN's Wolf Blitzer from a studio in Miami, Mudd broke into tears while saying, "A child of God is dead. Can not we acknowledge in this country that we cannot accept this?" He then excused himself from the interview, saying, "I can't do it, Wolf."
The fatal shooting in Parkland claimed 17 lives and was perpetrated, police say, by a former student of the school using an AR-15 rifle as well as multiple magazines.
Mudd joined the CIA in 1985 and became the deputy director of the organization's counterterrorist center. In 2005, FBI director Robert Mueller appointed Mudd the first-ever deputy director of the FBI's national security branch.