'Evil is real. As long as humans have walked the earth, people have chosen to do evil things.'

“Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe weighed in on the Florida school shooting Saturday, saying that politically charged conversations about guns, mental illness, and video games aren’t going to stop evil people from doing evil things.

“Evil is real,” Rowe wrote in a Facebook post. “As long as humans have walked the earth, people have chosen to do evil things. This is what happened in Florida. A nineteen-year old man chose to do an evil thing. He planned it. He executed it. He succeeded.”

In the wake of the shooting at a high school in Parkland which resulted in the deaths of 17 people, Rowe said that while it’s important to talk about the guns, video games, absent parts, medication, and mental illness, we shouldn’t conflate those contributing factors with the root cause.

“Nothing in this man’s past can possibly explain his decision to kill seventeen people,” he wrote. “If you believe otherwise, ask yourself why millions of other people with a similar past, don’t make similar choices.”

“People from horrible backgrounds often become the epitome of kindness,” he continued. “And people with every imaginable advantage, often go on to squander everything. The past does not equal the future.”

“To the families of the victims I can only offer my sincerest condolences, along with my heartfelt wish that the man who killed their loved ones is removed from the planet with all due speed,” Rowe wrote.

Rowe, who also hosts “The Way I Heard It” podcast, went on to say that the acts of courage of students and teachers sacrificing their own lives to save others deserve more attention.

“As for words, I can only repeat what others have said, and ask you to remember those who confronted evil with courage,” he wrote. “People like Aaron Feis, the football coach who threw himself in front of the kids the killer was trying to murder. Beyond that, I’m afraid I can offer nothing but my weekly attempt to prove that goodness also walks among us, just as surely as evil. In numbers far greater than our newsfeeds would lead us to believe.”

Fifteen year old Anthony Borges used his body as a human shield to protect 20 of his classmates. He was shot five times and remains in the hospital in stable condition. You can donate to his family’s GoFundMe page here.

Thirty-five year old Scott Beigel, a geography teacher, was shot and killed while saving students from the shooter. He opened a classroom door to let students into the classroom and was shot when he tried to re-lock the door.

Many teachers and faculty barricaded classroom doors, locked students into closets, and suspected a trap when the fire alarm was pulled. Their brave actions and quick thinking preventing many more deaths.

You can read stories of others displaying courage throughout last week’s tragic shooting here.