People in our state remembered the victims from Texas: 19 children and two teachers who tried to protect them. Many of the kids were fourth graders.
Vigils were held across the state to pay tribute.
“It’s surreal and it is incredibly painful,” said Rev. Shawn Fisher of the Bloomfield Congregational Church.
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People came together outside the church to pay tribute to those lives lost due to COVID-19 and the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas.
“It’s a way of expressing our concerns and our love and our prayers are with those families,” said Josephine Williams of Bloomfield.
Besides Bloomfield, people also held vigils for the victims of the school shooting in Norwalk and Norwich.
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“I’m extremely sad. I’m very angry. One of the little boys looks just like my son,” said Erica Brannen of Norwich. “It hits hard sending him to school today. Just give him that hug before he goes.”
In Bloomfield, we’re told 1,000 market lights represent the more than one million Americans who died due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ten globe lights represented the lives lost in what officials say was a racist shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo. And the lone star light for the students and teachers who were killed in the Lone Star State.
The church hopes this can be a place where people can find support during troubling times.
“Just being together in our common loss and grief. I think people are so fragile right now. There is so much pain. There is so much difficulty,” Fisher said.
If you would like to check out the lights, we’re told they will be shining from dusk to dawn for the next week.
