SAN FRANCISCO — Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama's decision to meet with the families of victims of the Colorado shooting was "the right thing."

The Republican presidential candidate spoke to donors in San Francisco Sunday night at roughly the same time Obama consoled grieving families in Aurora, Colo. A gunman opened fire in a crowded movie theater there early Friday, killing 12 and wounding scores more.

Romney said he appreciates the president's actions Sunday. And he generally avoided partisan attacks, declining to go after Obama by name "in keeping with the seriousness of the day."

The fundraiser opened with a moment of silence. Romney told roughly 250 donors, who paid as much as $50,000 to attend the San Francisco event, that he's been thinking about the "senseless killing" in Colorado.