SAN DIEGO — A revamped school bus arrived in San Diego on Tuesday as part of a stop on a cross-country tour to bring attention to gun violence. Headlining that rally will be Manuel and Patricia Oliver from Florida. They lost their son, Joaquin Oliver, in the Parkland mass shooting in 2018.
The shooting victim's parents made a stop in San Diego and Comic-Con as the 10th stop of their nationwide bus tour that started in Parkland, FL on July 3. The tour is called Guac’s Magical Tour- Guacathon 2023, named after their son, Guac, the nickname for Joaquin. The Olivers plan to visit 23 cities in an estimated 50 days, scheduled to finish on August 20th in Charleston, South Carolina in the old school bus turned activist vehicle.
It’s also in their own description, a celebration of what would have been his 23rd birthday. They will be joined by other gun safety advocates and local leaders pushing for stronger measures to be taken to save more lives.
This rally coincides with the county voting on actions to take after the release of a county-wide gun violence community needs assessment. The Board of Supervisors did not advance the study after the vote ended in a deadlock 2-2 vote.
In that report, we learned that from 2017 to 2021, “more than 70% of firearm-related deaths in San Diego County were suicide and over 28% were homicide.” San Diego County said in a news release.
The report also dives into which communities are impacted the most by gun violence.
There will be other events happening that will be during Comic-Con with the hopes of drawing even more attention to gun violence.
WATCH RELATED: Students rally in downtown San Diego calling for action against gun violence (March 2023):