EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The parents of one of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida happened to be in El Paso on Saturday.
Manuel and Patricia Oliver, parent of Joaquin Oliver, were in town to unveil a memorial mural this weekend.
Both parents shared their reaction to the shooting at Walmart that has claimed at least 20 lives.
“You saw what happened today and it could happen tomorrow in another ‘safest city in the country,'” Manuel Oliver said. “So this is America, this is how we live here. We pretend to have things that we don’t have. We like to think that it is a perfect country, but it is not.”
The Oliver family has been an advocate for gun laws following the 2018 tragedy in Florida. They repeated their stance on Saturday in El Paso.
“You need to talk about guns, right now. You cannot wait because ‘it is too early to talk about guns,’ and not say ‘thoughts and prayer’ as an answer. Don’t do that,” Manuel Oliver said. “This advice is coming from the parents of a victim from Parkland.”
