Pennsylvania Leaders React To Attack On Police In Dallas

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Reactions around Pennsylvania to the violence in Dallas, Louisiana and Minnesota:

PHILADELPHIA MAYOR: WE NEED TO LISTEN TO ONE ANOTHER

Philadelphia's mayor says he struggled to find words to express his "profound grief" over the deaths of officers in Dallas and black men at the hands off police in Louisiana and Minnesota.

"The phrase 'my thoughts and prayers' has lost its meaning to me, and I do not know what it's like to walk in a black man's or a police officer's shoes," he said.

So rather than talk, he said he listened to the stories of the victims.

He urged Philadelphians not to react in violence.

"The only way to achieve the peace we all seek is to listen and to be willing to hear one another," he said.

PEACE PROTEST PLANNED IN PITTSBURGH

Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto is calling for a community-wide "peace summit" to be held next week.

He says the goal is to seek ways to work together to address fear and violence.

He wants to gather leaders from across the community— including law enforcement, faith-based institutions, activist groups, businesses and government — to address violence facing Pittsburgh and the nation, and to find ways to promote racial healing.

"We are all affected by the violence in our communities — whether it be here in Pittsburgh, in Dallas, or so many other cities — and we all must do everything we can to stop it," Peduto said.

The date hasn't been announced.

PHILADELPHIA ARCHBISHOP SAYS ALL LIVES MATTER

The archbishop of Philadelphia is decrying the violence in Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas.

Archbishop Charles Chaput (SHAP'-yoo) calls the death of two black men in Baton Rouge and Minnesota at the hands of police "a grave source of concern and a tragedy compounding a long and bitter pattern of similar racially-related tragedies."

He adds that the attacks on officers in Dallas are an "outrage and an act of violence against the entire multiracial community."

He says such violence only deepens the nation's divisiveness.

"Black lives matter because all lives matter, beginning with the poor and marginalized, but including the men and women of all races who put their lives on the line to protect the whole community," Chaput said.

SEN. CASEY COMMENTS ON 'WEEK OF PAIN'

U.S. Senator Bob Casey is calling the shooting of police officers in Dallas "horrific."

"It has been a week of pain and sorrow for our nation," he said. "The deaths in Dallas came on the heels of shooting incidents involving police in Louisiana and Minnesota that once again raised questions about the appropriate use of force in our policing and criminal justice system."

The Pennsylvania Democrat says as a nation we must "commit to addressing these challenges."

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