Category Archives: Mass shootings

These are the 18 victims of the Lewiston, Maine mass shooting

[Note from BenIndy: We know that words can sometimes fail us, but  numbers don’t always fare so well, either. Lewiston, Maine’s mass shooting, in which 18 people lost their lives horrifically, was the 36th mass shooting of 2023. This year alone, we have lost at least 190 people to mass shootings, defined by the FBI as incidents in which four or more people (not including the killer) have died within a 24-hour period. We live in a country where statistics have shown us time and time again how truly deadly our lax gun laws are, and how gun violence disproportionately impacts people of color, children and teens. Gun violence is an epidemic with roots so deep and tangled in American culture that even the slaughter of children doesn’t stir us to think boldly.]

A teen bowler, a shipbuilder and a sign language interpreter are among the Maine shooting victims

Assembled using NPR’s “What we know about the victims in the Lewiston, Maine, mass shooting,” by Vanessa Romo, Ayana Archie, Emily Olson, and Steve Mistler, October 28, 2023 and WMTW Maine’s “These are the victims of the Lewiston, Maine, mass shootings,” October 28, 2023

This week’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, was the nation’s deadliest of the year.

Eighteen people were killed in the attacks on a local bowling alley and bar, and 13 others were injured.

Law enforcement announced on Friday that suspect Robert Card had been found dead.

The 40-year-old was the only person suspected in the deadly assault at the Just-in-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar & Grille on Wednesday.

This announcement, made late Friday night, marked the conclusion of a pursuit that left residents seeking shelter and led to the temporary closure of businesses and government offices. State and federal law enforcement agencies conducted an extensive search across multiple towns for Card.

The Maine Department of Public Safety released the names, ages and photos of the victims at a press conference Friday.

Before then, some families had publicly shared the news they had been given, taking to social media to update their friends and neighbors on an unimaginable reality now settling in.

Here is what we know about the victims:

Tricia Asselin. | Family photo.

TRICIA ASSELIN, 53

Tricia Asselin was one of the victims of the mass shootings in Lewiston on Wednesday night, ABC News said. She was an accomplished athlete, a volunteer, and on the day of her death, a hero, her mother, Alicia Lachance, told NPR.

Lachance, 75, said her two daughters, Tricia and Bobbi-Lynn Nichols, 57, went bowling at Just-In-Time Recreation, where Asselin worked.

Asselin and Nichols were talking near a center lane in the bowling alley when the shots first rang out, though due to the noise in the venue, the sisters didn’t realize they were shots until they rang out a second time. As Nichols began running toward the exit, she thought Asselin was behind her, but Asselin stopped to call for help and was shot.

Lachance, who lives in Florida, said she was watching Celebrity Wheel of Fortune when she saw the news break on the screen. She said she recognized the bowling alley immediately, as it is the only one in Lewiston and was started by a family friend.

“I know Tricia is there, and Bobbi, as they were going bowling. I call both their phones – nothing and no answer,” she said.

Nichols tried to go back into the bowling alley, but was denied.

In high school, Asselin played baseball and softball, and was offered a softball college scholarship, but turned it down because she was getting married.

She also was skilled in golf and fishing, which she did often with her son Brandon, 25.

In her free time, she went on cruises with her son and volunteered with several charitable organizations, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She had raised $900 for the upcoming Susan G. Komen breast cancer walk in her area, Lachance said.

“She was just a great person,” Lachance said. “Anybody that knows Tricia is devastated today.”

In addition to her son and mother, Asselin is survived by two brothers, Mark Johnson, 54, and Jason Johnson, 51.

The family has not yet been able to see Asselin’s body.

“We just don’t know what to do,” Lachance said. “There’s nothing we can do. As soon as I find out when they’re going to release the body, I want to fly home and I want to hold my daughter in my arms and my heart. I’ll hold her in my heart forever, but I want her in my arms one more time.”

Tricia was fatally shot at Just-in-Time Recreation as she ran to call 911.


Bill Brackett. | Hearst-owned image.

BILL BRACKETT, 48

William “Billy” Bracket was an avid sports fan with a natural athletic ability, according to close friends and family.

He was killed at Schemengees Bar and Grille, playing in the cornhole tournament alongside Joshua Seal, Steve Vozzella, and Bryan MacFarlane.

Karen Hopkins, executive director of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, where Brackett attended classes, said that the deaf community is devastated by the tragic losses.

“Our staff is struggling because they are our friends,” she said, according to The Associated Press.

Owen Horr, a close childhood friend, posted a tribute to Brackett on Facebook. In it he described him as a kind and shy friend who was an avid Longhorns fan and obsessed with nearly all sports from a very young age.

“He had natural-born athletic skills,” Horr recalled, adding that Brackett was usually picked first. “He was the best soccer goalie, playing baseball and basketball. He made more than 1,000 points during his senior high school years. Also, he was the outstanding baseball player in the league in Auburn/Lewiston, ME.”

The Lewiston Sun Journal reports that Brackett met his wife Kristina through mutual friends in the Deaf community. They celebrated their third wedding anniversary in August, and share a 2 1/2-year-old daughter named Sandra.

Bill was part of a gathering of deaf people playing cornhole at Schemengees Bar & Grill when he was fatally shot.


Peyton Brewer-Ross. | Hearst-owned image.

PEYTON BREWER-ROSS

Peyton Brewer-Ross, 40, worked as a pipefitter at Bath Iron Works, a local machinists’ union shared in a statement. He loved cornhole, wrestling, comic book heroes and helping others, his colleagues said.

Peyton Brewer Ross, a new father, died in the shooting, according to the Maine AFL-CIO. They add he was loved by the community.

It is unclear what location Peyton was Wednesday when he was fatally shot.


Tommy Conrad. | Hearst-owned image.

TOMMY CONRAD, 34

When the gunman entered Just-In-Time Recreation, several men attempted to take him down. Thomas Ryan Conrad, a manager at the bowling alley, was one of them.

Conrad, who’d served in the Army, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, made the ultimate sacrifice, friend Adam Stoddard told the Lewiston Sun Journal.

“He was great with all of the bowling community kids,” Stoddard told the newspaper. “They all loved him. He loved them so much he put his life in harm’s way to charge the gunman and save the children who were there. He died a hero.”

The 34-year-old had returned to Maine to live near his daughter, Caroline.

“My nephew loved his daughter more than words can say.. We love and will miss You Tommy.. We will all help take care of Caroline,” Conrad’s aunt, Holly Mireault, wrote on Facebook. He is survived by his 9-year-old daughter.

Tommy was in Just-In-Time Recreation when he was shot trying to rush the gunman.


Joshua Seal. | Hearst-owned image.

JOSHUA SEAL, 36

Joshua Seal was a husband, a father of four and a tireless advocate for the Deaf community.

A skilled sign-language interpreter, Seal was widely known as the ASL interpreter for Dr. Nirav Shah’s pandemic briefings. He  was among several members of the deaf and hard of hearing community in Lewiston who regularly went to Schemengees Bar & Grille to play cornhole. On Wednesday, the father of four was participating in a cornhole tournament for the deaf, along with Steve Vozzella, Bryan MacFarlane, and Billy Brackett, who were also killed.

In many ways, Seal was the conduit for the deaf community, especially during times of crisis.

“For so many in the deaf community in Maine, Josh was the voice of COVID and the face of COVID,” said former Maine Center for Disease Control director Dr. Nirav Shah, who is now the deputy director at the U.S. CDC.

Shah worked alongside Seal for almost two full years during the pandemic. Seal, an American Sign Language interpreter, had been brought in to communicate the latest updates on the virus and vaccines to people who needed to know about them, but often can’t.

His translations of mRNA, monoclonal antibodies and other pandemic vernacular were high energy and helped make him a star among the deaf and hard of hearing.

The killing of Seal, Vozzella, MacFarlane, and Brackett appears to be the deadliest mass shooting of deaf people in U.S. history.

Seal was also the director of interpreting services and coordinated summer camps for deaf and hard of hearing kids to keep them engaged and not feel isolated.

At approximately 7:08 p.m., Seal and his three friends were hit by the bullets of the gunman who had entered the billiards hall after first attacking the bowling alley. All four of them were killed. Three of them — MacFarlane, Brackett and Seal — had been students at the Maine Education Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, according to director Karen Hopkins.

Joshua was killed at Schemengees.


Arthur Strout. | Family photo.

ARTHUR STROUT, 42

On Wednesday night, Arthur Strout was playing pool at Schemengees Bar and Grill with his father. The pair were planning on leaving together because the 42-year-old hadn’t driven that night, his father, Arthur Barnard told CBS News. But instead, Strout decided to stay behind.

“I said, ‘OK,’ and he said ‘I love you,’ because all my kids tell me that every time we see each other,” Barnard told the news outlet. “Ten minutes later, I get a phone call.”

Strout’s wife, Kristy, described the 42-year-old as a Christmas person, who sometimes started preparing for the holiday as early as Halloween. Taken by the spirit of the holiday, she told the Lewiston Sun Journal, he’d gather their large blended family of five children, to decorate the tree just so.

“If it wasn’t perfect, he’d go back to make sure it was perfect and looked like one of those pictures out of a magazine,” Kristy said.

The pair had been married for nearly seven years, but they began dating 16 years ago. Together, they share a 13-year-old daughter, Brianna, whose birthday is on Halloween. Both Arthur and Kristy also had two children from a previous relationships.

Maria Wilson, a close friend, told the newspaper that Strout had an infectious, silly laugh. She also described him as a generous person, who was willing to share all he had with others.

“He looked out for anyone and everyone. It was a ‘here you don’t have a shirt, take mine,’ kind of mentality,” Wilson said.

Arthur was fatally shot at Schemengees.


Bob and Lucielle Violette. | Family photo.

BOB & LUCIELLE VIOLETTE, 76 & 73

Friends say Bob Violette should be remembered as a wonderful person who died trying to protect children. Bob Violette was a dedicated volunteer coach for a youth bowling league. He was killed at Just-in-Time while trying to save those around him, his daughter-in-law told Maine Public on Thursday. Violette’s wife, Lucy was also shot at the bowling alley.

“I have no doubt that he was protecting those kids til the end. He is just such a good man, that he deserves people to know about him and what he meant to everyone,” Brandon Dubuc said.

Lewiston schools superintendent Jake Langlais described Lucielle as “one of the kindest people I have ever met.”

“She supported youth, their development, loved bowling, a good laugh, and was a valued member of the business office at Lewiston Public Schools. Lucy served the public for over 52 years. Lucy was a mentor providing various levels of guidance and care to many from youth bowling, life mentoring, and so much more.”

The couple was fatally shot at the Just-In-Time recreation center.


Steven Vozzella. | Family photo.

STEVEN VOZZELLA, 45

Steven Vozzella was part of a gathering of deaf people playing cornhole at Schemengees Bar & Grill, ABC News reported.

On Wednesday night, Steve Vozzella was playing in Schemengees Bar & Grille’s cornhole tournament for the deaf, Maine Public reported.

The sport was a big part of Vozzella’s life — he was an active member of the New England Deaf Cornhole — and he was quite good at it, with several victories to prove it.

“With sadly and heavy hearts, NEDC has lost a member of our community,” the group wrote in a Facebook post, adding that the 45-year-old had won several games and was eager to play more. “He will be missed on and off the courts.”

Away from the cornhole boards, Vozzella was a father of two who was preparing to celebrate his one year anniversary with his wife Megan next month. He also worked as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and was a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

NALC President Brian Renfroe said in a statement that he was heartbroken to learn that Vozzella had been killed in the mass shooting.

“He had much more life to live before it was stolen from him in an all-too-common senseless act of gun violence,” Renfroe said. “We mourn the loss of Stephen and all the innocent victims of this tragedy. Our hearts are with Stephen’s loved ones, all of those affected and the entire town of Lewiston.”

Vozzella, as well as Billy Brackett and Bryan MacFarlane, who were also killed on Wednesday night, were stalwart members of Maine’s community of deaf people who died in the shootings, according to the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Steven was shot and killed at Schemengees.


Joe Walker. | Hearst-owned image.

JOSEPH WALKER, 57

Joseph Walker, the manager of Schemengees Bar & Grill, and the son of Auburn city councilor Leroy Walker, Sr., was killed in the shooting.

Joseph Walker’s family was frantically trying to track him down after news of the mass shooting spread.

His father, Leroy Walker, a city councilor in Auburn, Maine, told WGME news that he was unaware of his son’s condition for almost 14 hours. He eventually learned that his son, who was a manager at Schemengees Bar and Grille, had died at the scene of the horrific shooting.

“My son was a great son,” the elder Walker told the news outlet. “Never got in any trouble, and he did a lot of good things for a lot of good people.”

Maine State Police said Walker had grabbed a kitchen knife and was apparently running toward the shooter to stop him, when he was shot twice in the stomach.

When asked if he was surprised to hear his son attempted to run to the shooter, his father – Leroy Walker Sr. — said: “No, not at all. I know he would have done that to protect his people.”

According to police, the final moments of Joseph Walker’s life were some of his most heroic.

“Picked up a butcher knife and went after the gunman to try and stop him from killing other people,” Leroy Walker recounted. “And that’s when he shot my son to death. He tried to save some more lives, and he ended up losing his life.”

He added: “I know if my son were here with me, he would say that he’s sorry for all the others that were lost.”

Joseph was fatally shot at Schemengee’s.


Aaron Young. | Hearst-owned image.

AARON YOUNG, 14

Aaron Young was only 14 years old. He and his father, Bill, were both killed at Just-In-Time in Lewiston Recreation on Wednesday night.

“I knew it would hit me when I got here, and he wasn’t here to greet me with a huge smile and a hug when we got in,” Aaron’s sister, Kayla Putnam, said. “My mom just keeps saying, ‘He gives the best hugs.'”

Aaron was a son, brother and beloved classmate. Both he and his father were killed in the deadly rampage.

“He was an honor student there. He was really proud of his grades, and his friends really miss him,” Putnam said.

Bill Young, 44, and his 14-year-old son, Aaron, were at Just-in-Time for the youth league night, a family member confirmed to The Associated Press. Bill was a “man dedicated to his family” who was “always trying to be a funny guy.” Aaron was an avid bowler, the AP reported.

Aaron was fatally shot at Just-in-Time Recreation.


Bill Young. | Hearst-owned image.

BILL YOUNG, 44

Bill Young was a father and an auto mechanic.

He and his son, Aaron, were both killed at Just-In-Time in Lewiston Recreation on Wednesday night.

Kayla Putnam, Bill Young’s step daughter, said he was the rock of the family.

“He’s going to be very missed,” Putnam said. “It’s going to be very hard for the family right now to deal without him because he was kind of the center of the family and everything. We are going to have a lot to deal with and plan and make sure everyone is taken care of.”

Bill was fatally shot at Just-in-Time Recreation.


Bryan MacFarlane. | Family photo.

BRYAN MACFARLANE, 40

Bryan MacFarlane was playing in the cornhole tournament for the deaf at Schemengees Bar & Grille when he was killed, his sister Keri Brooks told CNN.

Brooks later told The Daily Moth, an online news outlet featuring news for the Deaf community, that there were nine deaf people at the bar that night.

MacFarlane, who was 40 and would have turned 41 in December, was on the same team as Billy Brackett, Steve Vozzella, and Joshua Seale, the Lewiston Sun Journal reported. Brooks said the men all knew each other through the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf.

She told the paper that MacFarlane grew up in Portland, Maine, but had only recently moved back to the state to be near his mother. She described him as an outdoorsy man, who lived camping, fishing and riding his motorcycle.

Brooks added that MacFarlane also loved spending time with deaf friends and his dog, M&M, who was named after his favorite candy and regularly joined him on the road as a commercial trucker.

She told CNN that MacFarlane was one of the first deaf people in the state of Vermont to get his commercial trucking driver’s license.

“Many states don’t let deaf drive trucks so I’m very proud of him for achieving that. He worked as a truck driver for several years,” she said.

MacFarlane was fatally shot at Schemengees.


Jason Walker. | Family photo.

JASON ADAMS WALKER, 51

Jason Walker, a close friend of Deslauriers Jr., was also killed at the bowling alley, according to the same Facebook post. “They made sure their wives and several young children were under cover then they charged the shooter,” Michael Deslauriers Sr. wrote in the post about Walker and his son.

Walker was fatally shot at Just-In-Time Recreation.


Keith Macneir. | Family photo.

KEITH MACNEIR, 64

Unlike the other victims killed by the gunman, Keith Macneir was not a local. He had traveled from his home in Florida to Maine last week, to celebrate his 64th birthday with his son, The Boston Globe reported.

In a Facebook post, Macneir’s niece, Grace Chilton, said he had been visiting his son Breslin Macneir.

“Keith was at Schemengees (making new friends, I’m sure) at the time of the shooting,” Chilton wrote. “Keith was the friendliest & kindest guy in any room – his loss will leave a huge hole in the lives of many, many people.”

Keith was fatally shot at Just-In-Time.


Maxx Hathaway. | Hearst-owned image.

MAXX HATHAWAY, 35

Maxx Hathaway spent Wednesday night playing pool at Schemengees Bar & Grille with his pregnant wife Brenda. But by the time the shooter burst into the restaurant Hathaway was there alone, friends told the Lewiston Sun Journal.

In a GoFundMe post, Hathaway’s sister, Kelsay Hathaway, said that the couple was expecting their third child in a little over a month. She described the father as a full-time stay-at-home dad and “a goofy, down to earth person” who “loved to joke around and always had an uplifting attitude no matter what was going on.”

She added: “Growing up he would always play dolls with my younger sister Courtney and always loved to get into trouble.”

In a Facebook post, Hathaway’s other sister, Courtney Hathaway, wrote about her own devastation. “I’m feeling a lot of things right now but I’m mostly heartbroken that he’s gone,” she wrote. “Nothing really prepares you for the sudden and shocking loss of a loved one, especially when it happens in such a tragedy.”

Hathaway was fatally shot at Schemengees Bar & Grille.


Ronald Morin. | Family photo.

RONALD MORIN, 55

Ron Morin was a dedicated husband and father of two, and a gregarious man who was well-known for having jokes at the ready, several family members have said in remembrances on social media.

Case in point, just one day before the mass shooting in Lewison, the 55-year-old posted a funny quip on Facebook — apparently a near daily habit, according to his friends.

“Why do men go to bars to meet women. Go to Target. The female to male ratio is 10 to 1. And they’re already looking for things they don’t need,” Morin wrote.

Morin was among the eight men killed at Schemengees Bar and Grille. His death has left his family “torn and shattered.”

In a GoFundMe post, Morin’s younger sister Tanya Morissette described him as having “an infectious personality.”

She added: “He was an incredible husband, father, brother, uncle, son, and friend. To know Ron, was to instantly love him. He was a man who always put others before himself and looked for the humor and positivity in even the most tragic circumstances.”

In a post on Facebook added after the shooting, Morin’s son Eric called him his “best friend.”

In an interview with the Bangor Daily News, another family member, Cecile Francoeur Martin, described Morin as an upbeat and happy person.

Martin told the outlet Morin was “just one of those people that if you are having a bad day, he was going to make your day better just by his presence.”

Ron was fatally shot at Schemengees Bar & Grille.


Michael Deslauriers II. | Hearst-owned image.

MICHAEL DESLAURIERS II, 51

Michael Deslauriers Jr. was killed at the bowling alley while trying to rush the gunman, according to a Facebook post shared by his father, who goes by the same name. “I have the hardest news for a father to ever have to share,” he wrote in the post.
Michael was fatally shot at Just-In-Time Recreation.

19 mass shootings injure more than 100, kill 12 over holiday weekend

More than 825 children and teens have been killed by guns in 2023

Signs from a gun reform protest.
In 2020 and 2021, gun violence was the leading cause of death for kids aged 2 to 17. Data from 2022 and 2023 are unavailable. | Photo by Natalie Chaney on Unsplash

CBS/AP, with Elise Preston contributing, June 19, 2023

Mass shootings in communities across the U.S. have killed at least 12 people since Friday and injured more than 100, CBS Chicago’s Charlie De Mar reported.

The shootings follow a rise in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. Shootings with multiple people killed or wounded happened in suburban Chicago, Washington state, central Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Idaho, Southern California and Baltimore, among other places.

“There’s no question there’s been a spike in violence,” said Daniel Nagin, a professor of public policy and statistics at Carnegie Mellon University. “Some of these cases seem to be just disputes, often among adolescents, and those disputes are played out with firearms, not with fists.”

So far this year, more than 800 children and teenagers have been killed by guns, which includes homicides and suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Looking at CDC data, a report this month by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions found 2021 set a record for the most deaths ever: 48,830 gun-related deaths. Of those, 20,958 were homicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [Note from BenIndy Contributor Nathalie Christian: The number of fatalities was updated to 825 after the publication of this article.]

Josh Horwitz, the center’s co-director, said states and the federal government need to redouble their efforts to stop gun violence.

“We also think limiting access to firearms in public is important,” he said. “And of course, investing in community violence intervention programs will pay dividends and save lives.”

“We know that there’s a correlation between amounts and levels of guns in the community and gun death,” Horwitz told CBS News.
But researchers disagree over the cause of the increase. Theories include the possibility that violence is driven by the prevalence of guns in America, or by less aggressive police tactics or a decline in prosecutions for misdemeanor weapon offenses, Nagin said.

One of the weekend’s shootings took place in Willowbrook, Illinois, where at least 23 people were shot, one fatally, early Sunday in a suburban Chicago parking lot where hundreds of people had gathered to celebrate Juneteenth, authorities said. The DuPage County sheriff’s office described a “peaceful gathering” that suddenly turned violent as a number of people fired multiple shots into the crowd.

Mariah Dixon, 23, was shot in the knee and hid under a car. She told CBS News that her life has been changed forever.

“I don’t know if I will ever be able to attend parties again,” she said.

A motive for the attack wasn’t immediately known. Sheriff’s spokesman Robert Carroll said authorities were interviewing “persons of interest” in the shooting, the Daily Herald reported. Governor JB Pritzker said investigators were also reviewing camera footage from the area, including cellphone video from attendees, CBS Chicago reported.

In Washington state, two people were killed and two others were injured when a shooter began firing “randomly” into a crowd at a campground where many people were staying to attend a nearby music festival on Saturday night, police said.

The suspect was shot in a confrontation with law enforcement officers and taken into custody, several hundred yards from the Beyond Wonderland electronic dance music festival.

In central Pennsylvania, a state trooper was killed and a second critically wounded just hours apart on Saturday after a gunman attacked a state police barracks. The suspect drove his truck into the parking lot of the Lewistown barracks and opened fire with a large-caliber rifle on marked patrol cars before fleeing, authorities said Sunday.

Lt. James Wagner, 45, was critically wounded when he was shot after encountering the suspect several miles away in Mifflintown. Later, Trooper Jacques Rougeau Jr., 29, was ambushed and killed by a gunshot through the windshield of his patrol car as he drove down a road in nearby Walker Township, authorities said.

The suspect was shot and killed after a fierce gunbattle, said Lt. Col. George Bivens, who went up in a helicopter to coordinate the search for the 38-year-old suspect.

Another shooting unfolded in a downtown St. Louis office building where a social gathering was being held early Sunday, killing a 17-year-old and wounding 11 other teenagers, the city’s police commissioner said. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Commissioner Robert Tracy identified the victim who was killed as Makao Moore. A spokesman said a minor who had a handgun was in police custody as a person of interest.

Teenagers were having a party in an office space when the shooting broke out around 1 a.m. Sunday.

The victims ranged from 15 to 19 years old and had injuries including multiple gunshot wounds. A 17-year-old girl was trampled as she fled, seriously injuring her spine, Tracy said. Shell casings from AR-style rifles and other firearms were scattered on the ground.

In all, 19 mass shootings were reported in the U.S. between Friday and Monday evening, according to the Gun Violence Archive.


RELATED: Fact Check: Gun violence surpasses car accidents as the leading cause of death for children

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RELATEDGavin Newsom is mostly right, the US gun homicide rate is 26 times higher than ‘peers’

RELATEDAll of our fact-checks about guns

June 2 is National Gun Violence Awareness Day and start of ‘Wear Orange Weekend’

[Note from BenIndy Contributor Nathalie Christian: You can follow the links or scroll to the bottom to see a list of nearby ‘Wear Orange’ events occurring the weekend of June 2-4, including one in Vallejo. If you’re of the opinion that wearing orange won’t solve anything soon, I would respond that any light we can shine on this horrific topic is good light, and worth shining.]

Wear orange this Friday and through the weekend to honor victims of gun violence

Wear orange June 2-4 and plan to attend events to honor victims of gun violence and bring more visibility to the epidemic of mass shootings in this country. | Photo by James Cullum/Gazette Packet.

From the Wear Orange and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund

Every year on the first Friday in June, members of our movement come together to honor survivors of gun violence and demand a future free from this crisis. We wear orange throughout the weekend to show our support—in every state and every community across the country.

Make sure you’re ready to join us on June 2–4 for this year’s National Gun Violence Awareness Day and Wear Orange Weekend. Find an event near you and share it with your friends!

Wear Orange originated on June 2, 2015—what would have been Hadiya Pendleton’s 18th birthday. Just one week after performing at President Obama’s 2nd inaugural parade in 2013, she was shot and killed at the age of 15. In the aftermath, teenagers in Chicago who wanted to honor their friend wore orange to raise awareness around gun violence.

Today, Wear Orange honors Hadiya and the more than 120 people shot and killed every day in the United States, as well as the hundreds more who are wounded . Together, we’ll use this moment to help build a future free from gun violence. Find a Wear Orange event near you and be a part of National Gun Violence Awareness Day!

Thank you for being a part of this movement. We can’t wait to see you wearing orange in just a few weeks.

– Wear Orange and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund

Local events:

Saturday, June 3, 11 am
CA-Oakland-Wear Orange
Oakland Moms Demand Action Table at Futures Fest
Deep East Oakland – Along the Scraper Bikeway
90th Avenue (Holly-Birch St.)

Saturday, June 3, 12 pm
CA-Vallejo-Wear Orange
Community event at Richardson Park (RSVP for details)
325 Richardson Drive
Vallejo, CA 94590

Sunday, June 4, 11 am
CA-SF-Wear Orange
Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
Rally starts at Marin Vista Point

Wednesday, June 7, 7 pm
CA-Martinez-Wear Orange
‘Wear Orange’ Proclamation at Martinez City Hall
525 Henrietta St
Martinez, CA 94553


RELATED: Fact Check: Gun violence surpasses car accidents as the leading cause of death for children

RELATEDClaim suggests billions should go to SWAT in schools. But there’s more to consider

RELATEDGavin Newsom is mostly right, the US gun homicide rate is 26 times higher than ‘peers’

RELATEDAll of our fact-checks about guns

Outbreak of Mass Shootings in the last 3 weeks

Benicia Independent, by Roger Straw, May 2, 2023

Daily Mail: Louisville bank shooting is America’s 146th mass shooting in 2023 – more than the number of days so far this year – as nation braces to hit record

The U.S. is suffering a horrific and increasing level of gun violence over the last three weeks. The Gun Violence Archive (GVA) has  become the nation’s best source of information on mass shootings. These numbers came from the GVA on April 30 listing mass shootings over the previous 20 days.

    • 39 mass shootings in 20 days, just under 2 a day
    • 43 dead in 20 days, just over 2 a day
    • 191 injured in 20 days, just under 10 a day
    • Countless families, friends, communities wounded forever…

The numbers can’t begin to tell the stories of heartache and loss among families and friends and whole communities. But the numbers do tell the story of a nation in crisis. I put the details into a spreadsheet format:

Click on image above to enlarge. Or click here to download in spreadsheet format. Click here to go to GVA for detailed links to each incident.)

Previously on the BenIndy: