Mark Barden lost his 7-year-old son during the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy – and now he’s showing his solidarity with the parent of a 20-year-old victim who died at the hands of the California killer in a heartfelt Facebook message.
“You are not alone,” Barden told Richard Martinez, whose 20-year-old son Christopher was killed by Elliot Rodger on Friday in a convenience store in Isla Vista, Calif.
Martinez sobbed as he discussed his son’s death with reporters on Monday, blaming the massacre on the NRA and the failure of Congress to take action in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings.
“Dear Richard Martinez, We have not met, but you are now part of our extended family,” Bardon began his post on the Facebook page for Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit dedicated to preventing gun violence. “It is not a family we chose, but a family born from the horrible circumstance of losing a child to gun violence — one that’s only growing each day.”
“My heart breaks for you because I know just a little about the long road ahead of you,” he continued. “We have reached out to you privately but publicly we wanted to say to you and those feeling the sorrow, anger and frustration of this weeks’ shooting, you are not alone.”
Barden emphasized that bereaved parents have found new purpose by banding together in support of “common sense solutions.”
“It has helped me, and some of the other family members who lost children and family at Sandy Hook Elementary, to come together and advocate for common sense solutions to expanding programs for mental wellness and gun safety solutions,” he said.
Barden closes by saying, “Together we can and will build a safer world for all our children.”
The earnest parent-to-parent message has already received over 5,610 likes since it was posted on Tuesday evening.