Trump calls Texas shooting a 'mental health problem'

United States President Donald Trump has called the mass shooting at a Texas church on Sunday a "mental health problem at the highest level" and not an issue with gun laws in the country.

"This isn't a guns situation. This is a mental health problem at the highest level. It's a very, very sad event. A very, very sad event, but that's the way I view it," CNN quoted Trump, as saying in response to a question related to the Texas church shooting incident during a joint news conference in Tokyo.

Based on preliminary reports, Trump called the gunman in the Texas shooting as a "deranged individual".

Earlier, condemning the shooting in Texas as an "act of evil", Trump termed the incident as "horrific" at his first public remarks.

"We pull together. We join hands, we lock arms and through the tears and through the sadness we stand strong, oh so strong," Trump said.

Trump also pledged his administration's "full support to the great state of Texas and all local authorities investigating this horrible crime".

At least 26 people were killed and several others injured in a mass shooting incident at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The gunman was identified as Devin Patrick Kelley.

After a brief chase, the law enforcement found the suspect dead of a gunshot wound inside his vehicle. Freeman Martin, a regional director with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the authorities were not sure if the wound was self-inflicted or the result of the resident who fired on the suspect.