Uvalde, Texas - 2022 Robb Elementary School Shooting
“This was a young man that was from Uvalde. He was raised in Uvalde. This is not something that is—we’re not a big city. This is a city of 16,000 people. Most of the law enforcement, most of the people knew him… We’re a town that prays together, we’re a town that works together, and we’re a town that grieves together… It’s just hard to believe that somebody from our community would do this to our community.”
El Paso, Texas - 2019 Walmart Shooting
“We are Texans, and we will not be defined by this evil. We are defined by our love… This is not who we are. This is not Texas… We must unite against this evil. And we must remember that it is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to overcome our differences that divides us.”
Highland Park, Illinois - 2022 Parade Shooting
“I also want to add that we as a community, and I as a mayor, are reeling from the loss that we experienced yesterday. It’s a profound sense of grief. The shooter was from our community. He was a resident of our community. So we are all, as a community, grappling with the fact that this was one of our own.”
Dayton, Ohio - 2019 Oregon District Shooting
“The shooter was from Bellbrook. A graduate of Bellbrook High School. It is a very small community, very close to our community… It’s just so sad. The motivation is so confusing. And to have that kind of hatred in your heart, and to do that kind of violence in our community, is just a tragedy.”
Virginia Beach, Virginia - 2019 Municipal Center Shooting
“He was one of our own. And he turned on his own.”
Santa Fe, Texas - 2018 Santa Fe High School Shooting
“This is a local kid. He’s from our community… It’s just very difficult. We’re all feeling this. You know, these are our children. These are our friends’ children. These are our neighbors’ children, and it’s just a terrible day.”
San Bernardino, California - 2015 Terrorist Attack
“I think that after this, we have to look at the fact that, you know, this is a global issue. But it happened in our city. It was committed by people that lived in our city and in our region.”
Norway, 2011 attacks
“He grew up in our neighborhood, believed in the same God, and had the same skin color as the majority in this country. He was one of us.”
I think it’s less of a clean split than you’re making it. The statements I listed show both. Sometimes leaders stress, “he was one of our own,” sometimes they stress how “this is not who we are.” Neither is pure ownership nor pure cowardice; they’re rhetorical tools for different purposes: unity, deflection, grieving, or political cover.
If anything, the very fact that they have to insist “this isn’t us” suggests they’re already grappling with the same discomfort you’re pointing out. It’s just a more polite way of saying “we wish it had been someone else’s problem.”
Either way, it’s not coded anti-immigrant language.