Father of Parkland shooting victim tells El Paso residents to ‘get mad’ over Walmart massacre: ‘Scream, shout, do something’

Manuel and Patricia Oliver were in city by ‘terrible coincidence’

The father of the one of the Parkland shooting victims has urged the city of El Paso to “get mad” in the aftermath of the Walmart shooting that left 22 dead, saying: “Get out there, scream, shout, do something.”

Manuel Oliver and his wife, Patricia, have been travelling the world in the days and months since their 19-year-old son, Joaquin, was killed in the February 2018 school shooting that left 17 students and staff dead, campaigning for gun control.

They were in El Paso to unveil a mural that Mr Oliver, an artist whose family was originally from Venezuela, had painted on the walls of an immigration rights organisation. Their son had long been a champion of humane treatment of migrants.

On Saturday morning, they heard about the reports of an active shooter at one of the city’s Walmart stores, and were again jolted with pain.

“We are continuing the fight,” Mr Oliver said, speaking at a vigil outside the NGO’s offices this week, that was also addressed by former congressman Beto O’Rourke.

He said in the aftermath of mass shootings, politicians often claimed it was “not the time” to talk about gun control out of respect to relatives of those killed and injured.

“This is the moment to talk about guns,” he said, to large applause. “We know what those families are going through. Their lives will never be the same again, and they’re expecting you do do something about it.”

In a video message posted online, Mr Oliver doubled down on his call for residents of the city “to get mad”.

“Get out there, scream, shout, do something,” he said. “I know how game works. You have to protect your city and your citizens. You’ve got to get angry, and not take this so easily. You’ve got to be mad and take action.”

Over the weekend, the Olivers said their son’s memory was now linked to two places that shared a mass shooting outrage.

“This is unbelievable. I heard that El Paso is considered one of the safest cities in the country. I heard the same story about Parkland. They were on the same list,” Ms Oliver told the Associated Press. Her husband said it was a “terrible coincidence”.

The mural he created features images of crying children inside window bars to create the image of cells along with likenesses of his wife and their son. Last year, he painted a similar piece on fences in Tijuana, Mexico.

After the shooting on Saturday, Mr Oliver made an addition to the mural in El Paso, painting the words “El Paso no está solo”, or “El Paso is not alone”.