Here are comments from Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl this afternoon about the slayings of three city police officers.

He made them to begin a press conference at police headquarters on the North Side.

Good afternoon everybody.

We are gathered here today on what is truly a tragic and very sorrowful day for the city of Pittsburgh. A senseless and tragic act of violence -- a random act of violence -- took place this morning on what began as a Pittsburgh beautiful spring morning.

We take pride in this city being a safe city, and we work very hard each and every day to achieve that goal. In order to do that, we ask the men and women in our public safety entities and specifically today in our police department to put their lives on the line and to risk them each and every day.

It is something we talk about that we simply accept, and unfortunately on difficult days like this, the harsh reality is that officers in some cases pay the ultimate sacrifice.

Three officers today did pay that ultimate sacrifice: Officer Stephen Mayhle, Officer Eric Kelly and Officer Paul Scuillo III. Stephen is survived by his wife, Shandra, and their two children, Jennifer and Brooklyn. Eric is survived by his wife, Marena. They had three daughters, Tameka, Autumn and Janelle. And Paul Scuillo III is single. He's survived by his parents, Paul and Julia, and two sisters, Laura and Julia.

We really ask all of Pittsburgh today to embrace, to mourn and to support these families and loved ones of these three officers. In addition, we ask the city of Pittsburgh to embrace, support and mourn our brave police officers, who also put their lives in harm's way this morning on a very difficult, difficult task. They are to be commended. If you see them, if you cross their paths, thank them for the work that they did this morning as well.

I also want to express my thankfulness to law enforcement agencies both locally and across the state and country. We have received condolence calls from [President Obama's] office, from Gov. Rendell, from Sen. Casey, and from my colleague across the state, [Philadelphia] Mayor Nutter. I want to thank all of them

Today has been indeed a very difficult day. This week no doubt will be a very difficult week. But I believe, as Pittsburghers always do, we will get through this. We will unite, we will remain strong, and we will remember these three officers and the ultimate sacrifice that they made. We thank them.

Our thoughts and prayers and condolences are with their families and loved ones.