On the morning of June 17, 1997, my dad — Bob DiPietro — was a happy-go-lucky, hardworking family man. A devoted son, brother, grandson, nephew, uncle, husband and father of two and one on the way. Later that day, he was another tragic victim of gun violence — shot and killed by his business associate and friend.
On the day of his death, my father was out to lunch with his associate when the man received a call that made him visibly upset. My dad made attempts to calm him down and followed him out to his truck. The man reached into his car and grabbed his gun; as he put it in his jacket, it went off. My father had been standing behind him and was shot directly in the chest. He was rushed into surgery, where he was pronounced dead.
Today, my dad would be 52. He would soon see his only son graduate from college. He would have witnessed the birth of his first two grandchildren. But instead we must live on in his name, and #fightlikeamother to end this gun violence epidemic.