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A converted yellow school bus will arrive in El Paso Wednesday. The night before, it was in Uvalde, and before that it was in Santa Fe, Texas.
These are three locations of mass shootings. The school bus is part of a new effort to raise awareness about gun violence.
“Stop Gun Violence” is painted on the side of the bus, and it is on a nationwide road trip organized by Manuel and Patricia Oliver. Their son Joaquin Oliver was one of 17 people killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
“The number one goal here is to create awareness,” Manuel Oliver said. “I don't have the power to do anything else.”
Oliver said he hopes that by connecting the multiple mass shootings, he’s able to amplify his message that something needs to be done about gun violence in America.
But also he’s connecting on a personal level with families that have suffered a loss similar to his. “I see Brett, to mention a father I consider my friend, and I see him, and we connect,” he said.
Brett Cross' son Uziyah Garcia was killed along with 18 other children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last May. He said working with the Olivers has helped him deal with the grief.
“They've become family, you know, us in this club,” Cross said. “We become family because we're the only ones that know what this feels like, and we don't want anybody else to have to feel this way.”
Cross said they are in a club that they didn’t want to join, and they don’t want any new members. “The only reason we haven't had a school shooting for the last five or six weeks is because school is out of session,” he said.
Rhonda Hart’s 14-year-old daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was killed in the Santa Fe High School shooting along with seven classmates and two teachers.
She stood in front of the school bus in Uvalde in the 103 degree heat. She said it’s time to shop for school supplies — and parents should consider getting bulletproof backpacks.
“Maybe get a bulletproof lunch kit just in case,” she said. “You also might need a casket at some point if you decide to go that route. Or you could also get an urn on Amazon. That's where I got mine from.”
Other stops on the tour include Orlando, Las Vegas, Aurora and Columbine, Colorado, and Newtown, Connecticut.
Oliver said he wants the tour to build momentum and eventually end in Washington D.C. with a lot of school buses to make a huge statement.
