About a year ago, in November 2022, Patricia Oliver addressed a courtroom during the sentencing hearing for the mass shooter who killed her son, Joaquin. “It is not anger or revenge that put me in this position,” she told the court. “I want you to listen very well. I am far beyond those feelings. I have emptiness, I have sadness, and I have grief. I am broken. I am broken. I am broken. I am broken. I am broken, and I am broken.”
Joaquin Oliver was 17 years old when a mass shooter opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. During the shooter’s trial, which ended with his conviction and sentencing to life in prison, Ms Oliver learned the details of her son’s death. “When I heard what happened to Joaquin in detail, my life changed forever,” she tells The Independent in a phone call at the end of May this year. “I can’t handle that Joaquin suffered that much. I suffered with him when I was listening to that.”
