Parents Of Bay Area Victims In Santa Barbara Shootings Demand Americans 'Wake Up' After Shootings
FREMONT (CBS) – The parents of two young Bay Area men who became the first victims of a violent rampage near U.C. Santa Barbara last month have broken their silence about the incident to demand an attitude shift in the United States.
David Wang of Fremont and George Chen of San Jose became the first of six victims of the May 23 attacks when they were stabbed by roommate Elliot Rodger.
In an interview with CBS News, David and George's grieving parents voiced their frustration after watching the media heap attention on their sons' killer.
"We are calling for the end of the killing of innocent people," said Jane Liu, David's mother, who has found the loss of her son to be unbearable. "It's time for all Americans to wake up."
The parents say focusing on their sons' killer makes him a celebrity and may encourage others to kill
"We want the young generation to know: Killing is a crime." said Kelly Wang. "Killing is not something cool."
The families said they had not heard from the Rodger's father, and questioned whether parents could have done more to keep their son from committing the crimes.
"We think good parenting is the first step to prevent the crime," said Kelly Wang. "Yes, you can do gun control, but if somebody has so much hatred in his heart, they can use other ways to kill innocents, and that happened to our boys."
The two families, immigrants from China, did not initially plan to speak out after the attack, but said they want to draw more attention to the victims of the senseless attacks.
A third roommate, James Hong of San Jose, was also killed in the attacks.
Read more on the interviews from CBS News.