President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on Wednesday met with victims and their families, hospital staff and first-responders at a Dayton, Ohio, hospital after Sunday’s mass shooting that killed nine people.

“You had God watching. I want you to know we’re with you all the way,” the president told them during the visit, according to White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

She said the president and his wife were going room-to-room to thank the hospital staff.

Trump did not stop to talk to reporters as he left the hospital.

The road leading to Miami Valley Hospital was lined by protesters behind metal barricades holding signs saying “Hate not welcome here,” “Do something” and a Baby Trump blimp wearing a sash that said “Stop being a baby stand up to the NRA #Daytonstrong.”

Several RVs with pro-Trump signs and flags were parked near an overpass along the route and an electronic message board flashed “Welcome to Dayton, President Trump.”

On a downtown city street, backers holding “Trump 2020” flags chanted “USA! USA!” to opponents across the sidewalk who shouted back: “Do not come here.”

The president and the first lady arrived in Dayton aboard Air Force One shortly before 11 a.m.

They spent a little less than three hours in the Ohio city before returning to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to board Air Force One for the trip to El Paso, Texas, where a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart on Saturday.

Trump and his wife were greeted on the tarmac in Dayton by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican; Sens. Rob Portman, a Republican, and Sherrod Brown, a Democrat; and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat.

Trump outlined the purpose of his visit before he left the White House.

“We’ll be meeting with first responders, law enforcement and some of the victims and paying my respects and regards,” he said. “It’s a terrific opportunity, really, to congratulate some of the police and law enforcement. The job they’ve done was incredible. Really incredible.”

Whaley, who expressed her disappointment with Trump over his speech on Monday in which he condemned white supremacy but failed to call for specific gun control measures, said she would meet with him.

“Everyone has it in their power to be a force to bring people together, and everybody has it in their power to be a force to bring people apart — that’s up to the president of the United States,” she said Tuesday.