The mother of one of the 12 victims killed last week during a shooting at a bar in Southern California said during a heartbreaking interview she’s tired of hearing about people’s thoughts and prayers.
Her son, 27-year-old Telemachus Orfanos, survived the shooting last year during a country music festival in Las Vegas. He was killed Wednesday.
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“My son was in Las Vegas with a lot of his friends and he came home. He didn’t come home last night, and I don’t want prayers. I don’t want thoughts,” Susan Orfanos told KTRK-TV. “I want gun control, and I hope to God nobody sends me anymore prayers. I want gun control. No more guns.”
Furious, grieving mother: "I hope to God nobody sends me anymore prayers, I want gun control." Her son Telemachus "came home" after the Las Vegas massacre last year but died in the #Borderline shooting. @KABC: https://t.co/kQtaWnej0V pic.twitter.com/0aiPiZjfCx
— HLN (@HLNTV) November 9, 2018
Telemachus Orfanos and 11 other patrons at the Borderline Bar and Grill, which was hosting a college night, were killed when a 28-year-old gunman opened fire last Wednesday. More than a dozen others were also injured during the attack.
Authorities believe the shooter used a .45-caliber handgun, which he ultimately turned on himself. So far, a motive has not been determined.
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Marc Orfanos, the victim’s father, told the Ventura County Star it’s “particularly ironic that after surviving the worst mass shooting in modern history, he went on to be killed in his hometown.”
For her part, Susan Orfanos isn’t convinced gun control would pass Congress in today’s divided political climate.
“If mowing down five year olds at Sandy Hook didn’t make an impression, nothing will,” she told The Washington Post. “The bottom line is the NRA owns most of the Republican Party, and probably some of the Democratic Party as well.”