A gun rights hearing on Capitol Hill escalated Thursday into a verbal altercation between two lawmakers amid the arrest of a parent whose son died in 2018’s Parkland, Fla., school shooting.
The fracas during a joint hearing held by the House Oversight and House Judiciary Committees began when Patricia and Manuel Oliver shouted aloud about their son Joaquin’s death before being removed by Capitol Police at the request of Reps. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.).
“You took away my son,” Patricia Oliver shouted over Fallon talking about gun violence rates in Mexico compared to the U.S., according to video of the proceedings.
“You’re removed. You’re breaching protocol and disorder in the committee room,” Fallon told Patricia Oliver, as she continued to speak about her son, who was killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. After Joaquin Oliver’s death, his parents co-founded a gun reform group and have previously staged civil disobedience actions.
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