One deeply unfortunate coincidence about last weekend’s mass shooting in Las Vegas is that it happened while America’s #1 album was by a band from Vegas called the Killers. Now that band’s frontman, Brandon Flowers, who has long had a heart for his hometown, has joined Jason Aldean (who was performing at the time of the massacre) and Ariana Grande (whose performance in Manchester was the scene of a deadly bombing earlier this year) in issuing a statement about the violence. On Facebook, Flowers writes:

I’m a Vegas boy. I always have been and — even though I just moved my wife and kids to Utah — I always will be. This past Sunday on a flight home from Australia, I flew over my hometown. Forehead to the window I looked down on Las Vegas and felt a prick of nostalgia. I thought about my mother buried below, I thought about my friends in Henderson, and I even traced Flamingo road down to where it meets the 95 and pin pointed my high school, Chaparral. I could see the city as a whole, but I couldn’t look close enough to see what was about to unfold. It’s hard to believe it’s real. My prayers go out to those whose lives were taken and to everyone else affected by this nightmare. I’m devastated for my community and for all of the people who gather together to see live music. Some of the happiest moments of my life have happened at concerts. They are a rite of passage, a holy communion, or just the kind of escape from the stress and the grind of daily life that so many people need. My heart swells when I hear the stories of people putting their lives on the line to help each other — defying the stereotypes of what people say Las Vegas is all about. We’re all long lost brothers and sisters. I miss my town, I miss my mom, I miss these victims I didn’t even know, but I look forward to getting together with you real soon to keep their memory alive. –Brandon