South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Parkland school shooting victim featured on Boston billboard about gun laws
On Thursday, a billboard featuring Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victim Joaquin Oliver was unveiled in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood near Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.
Next to the teenager’s face are the quotes, “If I had attended high school in Massachusetts instead of Parkland Florida, I would likely be alive today” and “Gun laws save lives.”
Manuel Oliver, Joaquin’s father and an artist, designed the 90-foot billboard, according to The Associated Press.
He and his wife, Patricia, attended a news conference for the billboard presentation with Massachusetts leaders including U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Attorney General Maura Healey, according to Boston NPR station WBUR.
“It’s too late for us to save our son Joaquin, but A woman crosses Dalton Street in Boston, passing a new billboard designed by the father of Joaquin Oliver, a student slain in the Feb. 14 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17. At a news conference Thursday, Oliver and his wife, Patricia, said Florida would benefit from gun laws like those in Massachusetts.
it’s still early for other parents to save their sons and daughters,” said Manuel Oliver, according to WFOR-Ch. 4
At the news conference, the Parkland parents said that Florida would benefit
from Massachusetts’ tougher gun laws.
The Bay State has an assault weapons ban that includes the rifle that was used on Feb. 14 to kill 17 students and faculty at Stoneman Douglas High.
Joaquin Oliver, who was known as “Guac’’ to friends and family, loved basketball, soccer and other sports as well as graffiti and hip-hop.
With the billboard, his father hopes people will remember
him.
“He’s right back sending a big statement to the nation,” Manuel told the television station.
“We change this if we follow Joaquin’s directions on that billboard.”