Central Catholic parent speaks out on Whitmer soccer shooting

TOLEDO, Ohio — Terry Olds, who grew up in Toledo, said that although the city has changed in his time, that doesn’t mean it’s not a place you can’t raise a family.

“We have been pushing for an end to gun violence in our cities, states and countries,” Olds said. we have to do a better job of it. It doesn’t mean that Toledo is any less safe than any other city. Not really. ”

His son, Brayden, central catholic high school A soccer team belonging to the University of Toledo. Central Catholic was playing Whitmer High School on Friday night. three people shotOlds was in the stands when the shooting happened and praised both schools for their quick response.

“That collaboration was really cool,” says Awls. “They did a really good job making sure everyone was safe.”

Toledo Mayor Wade Kapuskiewicz said Tuesday After the mass shootings, the government and police could look in the mirror, but they emphasized the number of guns in the United States as a factor in gun violence.

“We are the only country on earth where this kind of event happens regularly,” said Kapszukiewicz. “At least one reason is that we’re the only country on earth with more guns than people. We’re the only ones.”

numbers from 2018 survey A small arms investigation led by Aaron Karp, a political science lecturer at Old Dominion University, supports this claim. In 2017, he had 393,347,000 privately owned firearms in the United States, according to a study. At the time, the U.S. population had 326,474,000 guns, which put him nearly 67 million fewer than the number of firearms.

Behind the United States in terms of gun ownership are India and China, the world’s two most populous countries, with 71 million and 49 million civilian firearms respectively.

Awls said incidents like the shooting at the Whitmer football game are terrifying, but his view of high school sporting events remains the same.

“Toledo is a really nice place to live, so I don’t think anyone should feel like they can’t go to a high school game, a basketball game, a football game, or a soccer game in the area,” he said. rice field. .

Related: City councilors call for public safety commission meeting on violence in Toledo after Witmer shooting

Related: Community leaders encourage unity after violent crimes involving children and teens