Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell sent a powerful message about gun violence during his team’s Wednesday night win over the Phoenix Suns.
The 21-year-old NBA player inked two messages onto his shoes in response to the horrific mass shooting hours earlier at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Mitchell wrote “End Gun Violence” on the side of his right shoe:
And on his left shoe, he penned, “Pray for Parkland.”
After the game, Mitchell explained to reporters why the shooting prompted him to take a stand:
“My mom’s a schoolteacher. I was about 15, 20 minutes away during the Sandy Hook shooting. It’s kind of scary. I’m not saying all shootings make me feel the same way, but especially school shootings, with my mom being a nursery teacher, it’s kind of scary that that could happen at any moment, anywhere.”
Mitchell also called for “something” to be done about gun violence in the U.S.
“A lot of people, we talk about it, and there’s a lot of so-called awareness of it, but there’s nothing being done,” he said. “It’s interesting how it just continues to happen, and the movement doesn’t do much,” he added.
