WASHINGTON — Arkansas Congressman Tim Griffin, a Republican, said he had "tweeted out of emotion" on Thursday after appearing to blame Democrats for a shooting on Capitol Hill.

"The victims and their families are in my thoughts and prayers," Griffin said in a text message to BuzzFeed. "The shooting today is a terrible and inexcusable tragedy and an act of terrorism. No one but the shooter is to blame."

"We are still processing information about this shooting, but as I have been saying for days, we all need to choose our words wisely because violent rhetoric only coarsens our culture, creates an atmosphere of incivility and is not helpful. I tweeted out of emotion but agree that the timing was not helpful," Griffin said.

Griffin had tweeted, "Stop the violent rhetoric President Obama, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. #Disgusting" from his personal Twitter account, a few minutes into an active shooter situation on Capitol Hill that put the Capitol complex on lockdown.