Rick Scott Releases Statement on Beheading of Steven Sotloff

Gov. Rick Scott spoke out on the brutal murder of freelance journalist and Miami native Steven Sotloff on Tuesday after a video of his alleged murder surfaced online.

Sotloff attended the University of Central Florida. He was captured in Syria by ISIS last year.

On behalf of Ann and myself, and on behalf of all the people of Florida, we want to convey our sorrow and our condolences to the entire Sotloff family. We cannot begin to understand their grief," said Scott.

The people who did this are evil. They are not merely wrong, they are not adversaries, they are evil. And evil must be confronted and destroyed. In fact, these immoral animals reject the basic code of human morality that crosses all cultures. This is not a political or international disagreement. It is a case of barbarians choosing to set themselves apart from the rest of humanity.

Here is what they need to understand Steve Sotloff was a Floridian, but more importantly he was an American. If you attack one American, you are attacking all Americans. Last week President Obama said that his administration does not at present have a strategy for dealing with ISIS these immoral evil people.

I think I can speak for all Floridians and all Americans when I say that the time for a strategy is now, and part of that strategy needs to include destroying them.