President Obama spoke out during a press conference yesterday about the shooting death of 17-year old Trayvon Martin, saying that the incident evokes thoughts of his own children, just like it does for many Americans.

“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” he said when asked about his feelings on the boy’s death and the fact that George Zimmerman, the man who admitted to shooting him, hasn’t yet been arrested. “Obviously this is a tragedy. I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. And I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together, federal state and local to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened,” the president said.

The U.S. Justice Department has initiated it’s own investigation as to whether or not Zimmerman, who is of Caucasian and Hispanic descent, was racially motivated to shoot the teen, who was African-American. Obama says he is head of that department and therefore must be careful about any statements he makes about the investigation.

“My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin…I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and that we’re get to the bottom of exactly what happened,” Obama said.

Twitter users were affected by the President’s words and are tweeting about the press conference today: