Leading GOP candidate for governor in NC mocked school shooting survivors

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R), who is running for governor, was found to have made several social media posts mocking survivors of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

A new report from CNN’s KFile chronicles several social media posts from Robinson in which he attacked the teenage survivors of the Parkland shooting, where 17 people were killed by a gunman.

In one Facebook post dated just two weeks after the shooting, Robinson called the students protesting “spoiled, angry, know it all CHILDREN” who “are trying to tell law abiding ADULTS that we must give up our Constitutional RIGHT to own certain weapons.”

He also bashed survivor David Hogg, who co-founded the March for Our Lives movement pushing for gun control after the massacre, and others as “silly little immature ‘media prosti-tots.’” 

“I guess candidates for office who attack kids and school shooting survivors are ALIVE AND KICKING, and trying to work in our government, too,” the organization wrote in response.

The group shared a screenshot of one of Robinson’s posts alongside his profile picture, adding, “Just in case y’all forgot what the faces of extremist lawmakers look like right now.”

Robinson, who became the state’s first Black lieutenant governor when he ran in 2020, made the much-anticipated jump into the North Carolina gubernatorial race last month. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is barred by the state's constitution from seeking a third consecutive term. 

The CNN report also found that Robinson, in a 2018 podcast episode, seemed to defend the Ohio National Guard’s 1970 shooting of student protesters — of whom four were killed — at Kent State University during demonstrations against the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war.