Paying his respects.
Matthew McConaughey traveled to his grieving hometown of Uvalde, Texas following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary school earlier this week that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
During his visit on May 27, the Dallas Buyer's Club star appeared with Rep. Tony Gonzales as he met with families and those affected by the tragedy, including parents who lost their kids during the shooting and staff in the city's school district.
"Thank you Matthew for helping to heal our community," the republican congressman wrote on Twitter. "Your visit brought so many smiling faces to Uvalde. See you soon my friend."
McConaughey, 52, was born in the Texas town, roughly 83 miles west of San Antonio. His mother worked as a teacher at a school a mile away from the horrific scene where Salvador Ramos, 18 allegedly opened fire and killed nearly two dozen people on May 24 before he was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent.
The Oscar-winning actor—who shares three children with wife Camila Alves—was among one of the first high-profile celebrities to address the tragedy in a plea to control the epidemic of school shootings.
"As you all are aware there was another mass shooting today, this time in my hometown of Uvalde, Texas," the actor wrote on social media on May 24. "Once again we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us,"
He continued, "As Americans, Texans, mother and fathers, it's time we re-evaluate, and renegotiate our wants from our needs. "We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children's issue."
McConaughey, who has previously considered running for governor of Texas, noted his statement wasn't about politics.
"This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better," he wrote. "We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured."
Tuesday's shooting is the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut in 2012.
"This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we stand on, we all know we can do better," McConaughey said in his post. "We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parents has to experience what the parents of in Uvalde and the others before them have endured."