Child Of Alexandria Homicide Victim Demands Action On Gun Control

FALLS CHURCH, VA—Carmen Lodato knows the feeling of losing a loved one to gun violence. In 2014, her mother and longtime music teacher Ruthanne Lodato was shot and killed by convicted serial killer Charles Severance in Alexandria.

On Monday, Carmen joined hundreds of others at a local vigil to call for stricter gun laws and remember the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, the latest mass shooting to devastate the nation. The vigil was held at George Mason High School in Falls Church by gun control groups Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety.

“I understand what it’s like to lose someone to gun violence and it doesn’t matter if it’s a random occurrence or a mass shooting, 96 people are killed by guns every day in this country," Lodato told WUSA. "And all of them hurt, no matter what the circumstances.”

A volunteer estimated that 350 to 500 people showed up to the vigil, including students young and old, WTOP reported. Lodato, Rep. Don Beyer and other speakers called on the Trump administration and Congress to do something about gun violence and commemorated the 17 shooting victims with candles and balloons bearing the victims' names.

Students and gun control advocates from around the U.S. have joined the Florida shooting survivors to demand action from legislators on reforming gun laws. Locally, protesters rallied at the NRA Headquarters Friday in Fairfax, and high school students held a "lie-in" protest in front of the White House Monday. Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are also organizing a March for Our Lives in Washington, DC on March 24 to call for stricter gun laws.

The gunman, Nikolas Cruz, 19, has been charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bail.

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