President Barack Obama on Friday called the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, 17, a “tragedy.”

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Obama answered a question about the shooting last month of Martin, an unarmed black teenager, who was shot by white neighborhood watch guard, George Zimmerman.

“I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids,” Obama said. He was asked about the case at the end of a Rose Garden statement about the nomination of a new World Bank head.

The president also praised that the FBI and the state of Florida was investigating the case.

“I think all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen. And that means that we examine the laws and the context for what happened, as well as the specifics of the incident,” he said.

“If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. And I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened,” Obama said.

Zimmerman has said he shot Martin on Feb. 26 in self-defense.