Josh Gad reveals child of family friend died in Florida shooting

Beauty and the Beast actor Josh Gad has revealed that a child of a family friend has been killed following the horrific school shooting in Florida. The 36-year-old took to Twitter on Thursday to confirm the sad news: "Last night, I received a text while I slept that our friend's son passed away from his gun shot wound. My grief for this family and the many others knows no bounds. I'm so sorry this happened. I'm so sorry our leaders are worthless. I'm so sorry we are bound to repeat this again."

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Josh Gad has revealed a child of a family friend has been killed in the Florida shooting

Just hours before, Josh revealed his "anger" over the terrible incident, which left 17 people dead at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. "I am so angry tonight," he tweeted. "I am so sad. I'm putting my phone down because we are debating sensible gun laws again. A child of one of our friend's has a bullet in his chest & is critical condition because a 19 year old had access to a military weapon. Pretend it's normal. It's not."

READ: Kim Kardashian calls for gun control following Florida school shooting

Ex-student, Nikolas Cruz, was arrested following the attack. It is the deadliest school shooting since 26 people were killed in the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012, and the sixth school shooting to take place in the US in 2018 that has wounded or killed students. American actor Josh later followed up his tweet with a political message, saying: "As a Floridian, please let me be among the masses to tell you, you are a spineless coward @marcorubio and I hope your 3.3 million dollars in NRA funding comes with ear plugs that allow you to tune out the mourning cries of children and parents everywhere."

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Celebrities have since taken to social media to demand stricter gun control, and to pay tribute to the victims. Kim Kardashian West weighed into the issue, telling her followers: "Prayers won't do this: action will. Congress, please do your job and protect Americans from senseless gun violence." Mark Ruffalo wrote: "Prayers without accordant action are silent lies told to oneself, heard by no God, amounting to nothing. Action is the language of truth, the prayers of the Saints." Elizabeth Banks shared a picture with 'Thoughts and Prayers' crossed out, instead reading 'Policy and Change', and wrote: "Sending my love to #parkland. #guncontrol #policyandchange."

READ: The Queen leads celebrity tributes to Las Vegas shooting victims