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Photos: Father Of Santa Barbara Killer Meets Victim's Dad

Sometimes, not much needs to be said. That's the case with a series of photos released today that show an early June meeting between the father of the Santa Barbara killer and the dad of one of his 20-year-old victims.

If you remember, Richard Martinez made national news when he appeared at a police press conference and delivered an emotional plea to "stop this madness."

In the days that followed, Martinez said he would like to meet Peter Rodger, the father of Elliot Rodger, who police say killed six people and himself.

"I've been told that the shooter's father has said he wanted to devote his life to making sure that doesn't happen again. I share that with him," Martinez said. "He's a father. I'm a father. He loved his son. I love my son. His son died. My son died."

In early June that meeting came to fruition. The pictures were released by Rally, a communications firm that focuses on advocacy. It handles the publicity, for example, for Sandy Hook Promise, the group of parents who came together after the Sandy Hook shooting to try to bring about changes to gun laws.

The firm did not release details about the conversation.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Eyder Peralta is an international correspondent for NPR. He was named NPR's Mexico City correspondent in 2022. Before that, he was based in Cape Town, South Africa.
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