Attorney General: 'Sad Fact' That 'No One Is Safe'

The nation's top law enforcement official offered a sobering and blunt warning to Americans today: "It is a sad fact now that no one is safe."

Attorney General Loretta Lynch was responding to a spate of "tragic" and "particularly troubling" attacks across the country in recent weeks.

"We have seen violence strike at all segments of our community," she noted before listing several "brutal" cases from the past couple of months: The June massacre inside an historic church in Charleston, South Carolina; the attack at a Tennessee movie theater in July; and last month's terrorist attack on military personnel in Tennessee.

"The particularly violent shootings of two Virginia reporters killed on air last week," Lynch said, also noting the deadly ambush of an officer pumping gas in Texas last week, and Tuesday's fatal shooting of a police officer in Illinois.

"This violence against all of us -- regardless of what uniform any of us wear -- has to end," Lynch said.

She said she "strongly condemn[s]" the recent attacks on police officers, adding, "Our hearts are broken over this."

Lynch, speaking to a crowd at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said her own agency, the Justice Department, is trying to determine exactly what is behind the "uptick in violent crime."

She noted that she's holding a summit in Detroit later this month with law enforcement from certain cities around the country to discuss ways to address the issue. In addition, she has asked some U.S. attorneys to set up similar meetings in their own areas because "specific causes" of violence are "different in every location," she said.