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Mar 23, 2023 - Politics & Policy

Parkland victim's father arrested at congressional hearing on guns

Sareen Habeshian

Manuel Oliver is pictured on March 24, 2022, in Washington, DC. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The father of a Parkland shooting victim was arrested Thursday after disrupting a congressional hearing on gun regulations in Washington, D.C.

Driving the news: While Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Tex.) was speaking about gun regulations, Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son Joaquin Oliver was killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, yelled "you're full of s--t, all of you," video footage shows.

  • The footage appeared to show Oliver being removed from the hearing room and pinned down to the floor by Capitol Police before being arrested.
  • "Back up or you're going to jail next," an officer shouts at his wife, Patricia Oliver, as she stands over them while making the arrest.

Zoom in: "You took my son away from me, and I’m not going anywhere! I’m going to listen to your absurd things," Patricia Oliver can be heard saying.

  • "You're removed. You're breaching protocol and disorder in the committee room," Fallon said to her, according to the video footage.
  • Fallon can also be heard saying at one point, "Is this an insurrection? So will they be held to the same? I don’t want another January 6."
  • Another video of the incident shared by Patricia Oliver shows a part of the confrontation as she was removed by Capitol Police.
  • Capitol Police did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

What they're saying: Video shows Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) confronting the officers while they were arrested Oliver, asking, "What's going on here?"

  • Frost later said on Twitter that he attended the hearing to discuss "common sense" gun reform measures.
  • "Instead the father of a student murdered in Parkland was thrown out & arrested because he had the audacity to disagree with the Republican lawmakers in the room," Frost said. "His son was murdered at the hands of a gun, & instead of showing him respect & compassion, Manny Oliver was arrested."

Of note: Oliver was also arrested last year after he climbed a crane in Washington, D.C., to hang a banner that read, "45K people died from gun violence on your watch," calling on President Biden to take action against gun violence.

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