'Sit down': Father of Parkland shooting victim interrupts Biden during gun safety law ceremony
CHICAGO - A man whose son was killed in the school massacre at Parkland, Florida, interrupted President Joe Biden as he marked the enactment of a new gun safety law during a ceremony Monday at the White House.
Manuel Oliver, who ahead of the event tweeted criticism of it, was escorted out after shouting as Biden was speaking. Oliver's Twitter bio says he is the father of Joaquin Oliver, who was one of the victims of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.
It's not clear exactly what Oliver said during the event, which was held in the South Lawn of the White House.
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"The word CELEBRATION has no space in a society that saw 19 kids massacred just a month ago," Oliver tweeted before the commemoration. "'Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.' Not me, not Joaquin."
Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed in the Parkland mass shooting, interrupts US President Joe Biden during an event commemorating the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Biden paused during his remarks when Oliver's interruption began and attempted to get him to relent before the man was removed.
"Sit down you'll hear what I have to say," Biden said.
"We have one. Let me finish my comment. Let me talk," Biden added, before the event continued after a brief, but rare, interruption on White House grounds.
The new law creates new opportunities for those who spot so-called red flags in the behavior of people under age 21 to report it in ways that could prevent them from easily obtaining firearms.
"So the parent, a teacher, a counselor can flag for the court that a child, a student, a patient is exhibiting violent tendencies, threatening classmates or experiencing suicidal thoughts that makes them a danger to themselves and to others," Biden said.
President Joe Biden speaks during an event on the South Lawn of the White House to commemorate the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which will help curb gun violence, on Monday, July 11, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker was on hand for the event and, when he talked separately to reporters, seemed to echo the Florida father's plea that more must be done regarding military-style firearms, such as was used by the killer last week in Highland Park.
"These are combat weapons. These are weapons of war. They should not be on the streets. When I talk to police officers like Commander O'Neil. They'll tell you that these bullets and this weapon can rip right through kevlar. So a police officer is not safe with these weapons on the street," Pritzker said.
Pritzker acknowledged Congress is very unlikely to approve any form of the assault weapons ban he's seeking wants.
Fox News contributed to this report.