Live: Barack Obama Comments on Trayvon Martin Case: If I Had a Son, He'd Look Like Trayvon (+ video)

President Barack Obama says: "You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." These were among the first comments made on the high-profile case today. 

"All of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how does something like this happen," Obama continued. "And that means that we examine the laws and the context for what happened as well as the specifics of the incident."

As the Trayvon Martin racial shooting case explodes in the news and in social media, spawning national protests and wide calls for more justice, Obama today weighed in on the issue.

According to CBS News, "Obama was asked about the shooting on Friday during an event at which he announced the nomination of Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim to be World Bank president."

"Obviously this is a tragedy," Obama said. "I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together, federal, state and local, to figure out how this tragedy happened."

As more details emerge from the Trayvon Martin shooting, it is becoming increasingly clear that the police have failed to bring his killer, George Zimmerman, to justice. Martin, a 17-year old African-American teenager carrying Skittles and iced tea, was chased, confronted, then fatally shot in Sanford, Florida, late last month by Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Latino college student who was the captain of the neighborhood watch. After initial questioning, Zimmerman was released without charges.

The Justice Department has announced it will investigate the shooting of Martin. Full details of the case are here. In a late-night statement on Monday, the DOJ announced the Civil Rights Division will launch a "thorough and independent investigation of the facts and circumstances of the shooting."

The race element has been a major factor in this case, and many have wondered when America's first black president would comment on the issue. 

Throughout his first term, Obama has sought to limit his comments on race-related issues. 

What do you think: How should Obama weigh in on the Trayvon Martin case?

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to properly cite language that was originally used without attribution to CBS News. We apologize to our readers for this violation of our basic editorial standards. Mic has put in place new mechanisms, including plagiarism detection software, to ensure that this does not happen in the future.