DETROIT (WXYZ) — People in Detroit are standing with Uvalde, Texas after 21 lives were lost to senseless violence when a person fired gunshots at an elementary.
Uvalde is about 1,500 miles away from Detroit, but Tuesday’s tragedy hit homes for many.
“Just strolling through the pictures of all the victims, they all look like my kids, they all look like me. And they all look like the majority of this community,” Richard Colon said.
Colon the lead pastor at Santos Church in Southwest Detroit.
The community came together to light candles and pray for the 19 children and two teachers whose lives were cut short while they were in school.
Inside the chapel, Colon held a moment of silence for the shooting victims in Texas, Buffalo, New York and countless other cities across the country.
People couldn’t hold back tears as they watched the faces and names of the victims on the screen.
“No words can bring back a lost loved one or child, and I couldn’t imagine that pain,” Colon said.
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It’s a pain that is all too familiar for one mother.
“My 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was murdered in his first-grade classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School,” Scarlett Lewis said.
It’s been 10 years since Lewis lost her son.
Since the tragic shooting, she started Choose Love Movement, a nonprofit organization creating safe and loving communities.
“I know right now, they’re in shock and what they need to know is that we are with them, we love them and we are committed to change,” Lewis said.
Colon says that change will come with prayer and then action.
“Starting small. Every little step is still a step,” he said.
It's step that will one day, hopefully prevent this kind of grief and tragedy from happening again.
There is another vigil scheduled at Southwest Detroit Pride on 6021 McMillan Street at 7:30 p.m. this Friday.
