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Anti-Gun Violence Mural Created In Springfield By Father Of Slain Parkland Student

WAMC

The father of a slain Parkland, Florida high school student has brought his campaign against gun violence to Springfield, Massachusetts – home to gun maker Smith & Wesson.

Miami-based artist Manuel Oliver is creating a series of murals around the country to give his slain son Joaquin a voice and to support gun control movements.

Denied permission to put up the mural near the Smith & Wesson headquarters, he created his latest work in front of the South Congregational Church in downtown Springfield.

" We are supporting the kids,number one," Oliver said. " We are demanding changes and we don't want any other parent or any other family to go through the pain this has meant for us."

Oliver and his wife Patricia have created non-profit organization that organizes youth forums and registers young people to vote.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.