SEATTLE -- Peter DeBoer opened his press conference Sunday morning with emotional words about the mass shooting that killed at least eight people and wounded at least seven others in Allen, Texas, on Saturday.
The Dallas Stars coach said he and his family have shopped at Allen Premium Outlets, the site of the shooting.
The mall is about 27 miles northeast of American Airlines Center, the Stars' home arena; 13 miles from Comerica Center, the Stars' practice rink; and one mile from Credit Union of Texas Event Center, home of the Allen Americans, the Ottawa Senators' ECHL affiliate.
"I just want to acknowledge how heartbroken we are about the mass shooting in Allen, Texas," DeBoer said. "It's really close to home, obviously, and just tragic. Frankly, when you hear victims as young as 5 years old, you just, you get tired of hearing it."
DeBoer went on to reference other mass shootings.
"I think when you hear Sandy Hook and Parkland and Nashville, unless it's in your backyard, you compartmentalize it and put it aside, and then when it happens in your backyard, you realize the horror of it," DeBoer said. "I don't pretend to know the answer on how to fix it, but it's too great a country [with] too many intelligent people not to do something about it. So, just horrific."
DeBoer was asked how the Stars would compartmentalize the shooting while playing the Seattle Kraken in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday.
"I don't know," DeBoer said. "It's tough to think about games when you wake up to headlines like that. We shop there. I don't have the words for it. There has to be some answers. Somebody has to have some answers for it."
Forward Wyatt Johnston is one of several Stars players who have shopped at the mall. The 19-year-old rookie said he went with other Stars prospects during development camp in Frisco.
"Just scary and terrible," Johnston said. "A lot of these things that happen are just kind of, it's never close to you. But when it's somewhere you've been, it's kind of like, 'Wow.' You've really got to be kind of aware and careful."
