Watch live: President Joe Biden addresses nation following Texas school shooting

President Joe Biden will address the nation Tuesday night shortly after returning to the White House from a five-day trip to Asia that was bookended by “horrific” mass tragedy.

Biden was on Air Force One Tuesday afternoon when officials said a gunman acting alone killed at least 18 students and three adults at a Texas elementary school. His departure for Asia last week came just two days after he met with victims’ families after a hate-motivated shooter killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The back-to-back tragedies served as sobering reminders of the frequency and brutality of an American epidemic of mass gun violence.

Biden directed that American flags be flown at half-staff through sunset Saturday in honor of the victims.

The address is scheduled to begin on Tuesday at 8 p.m. central/9 p.m. eastern.

Watch live below: