Grieving fathers linked by killing rampage meet
Source: Associated Press
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) The father of a college student who was gunned down in the May 23 mass killings near the University of California, Santa Barbara said he met privately with the father of his son's killer on Sunday.
Richard Martinez told KEYT-TV he met Peter Rodger, the father of 22-year-old Elliot Rodger, at a Santa Barbara coffee shop. He wouldn't discuss details of what he called a "private conversation between grieving fathers," but said they reached common ground.
"We plan to work together so other families such as ours will not suffer as ours have," Martinez told the station.
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"We are crying out in pain for the victims and their families. It breaks our hearts on a level that we didn't think was possible," Peter and Chin Rodger said in the statement. "It is now our responsibility to do everything we can to help avoid this happening to any other family."
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/grieving-fathers-linked-killing-rampage-meet-060859778.html
Such a tragedy for both families. Hopefully, working together they will be able to accomplish something that will lessen the probabilities of these situations occurring in the future.
Cha
(298,020 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)It takes a big man to do what they both did. It would be too easy to avoid that meeting.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I hope they are successful as it will be a large mountain to climb.
CBHagman
(16,992 posts)I find it remarkable that they could both make this move so soon, within the first week or so afterwards, but perhaps that speaks to their focus.
ColesCountyDem
(6,943 posts)Within hours, the Amish community actively reached out to the shooter's family, comforting them. The one picture that stands out in my mind is of an Amish man holding the shooter's sobbing father in his arms, consoling him. I would like to think that I'm capable of the strength it must have taken to do what the Amish did, but I honestly don't know.
CBHagman
(16,992 posts)I was simply stunned, especially given how much time it can take someone to work through the sorrow, bitterness, and anger over a death from, say, illness or accident as opposed to a premeditated act.
bpj62
(999 posts)I read an interview with Adam Lanza dad in the New Yorker and the pain he feels is so visceral. His regret for the divorce and other things is clearly a burden that he will carry for a long time.
Skittles
(153,298 posts)to me it felt right that he did that - I guess it let me know that regardless of mistakes that boy's father may have made, he did care
flamingdem
(39,336 posts)Martinez initiated, he would have had to do so clearly. Much admiration to him and his family.