Hundreds gathered on Wednesday at a candlelight vigil in Nashville to honour and mourn the three children and three adults who were killed in a shooting at a Christian school this week.
Hundreds gathered on Wednesday at a candlelight vigil in Nashville to honour and mourn the three children and three adults who were killed in a shooting at a Christian school this week.
The downtown ceremony for the victims of the shooting at The Covenant School was sombre and at times tearful, as speaker after speaker read the names of the victims and offered condolences to their loved ones.
The family of Mike Hill, a 61-year-old custodian who was among those killed, was in attendance, including his seven children.
First Lady Jill Biden was also on hand but did not address the crowd.
Sheryl Crow sang I Shall Believe and ended with the lyrics from a Dionne Warwick song: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.”
Margo Price sang an a cappella version of Tears of Rage. And Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show led the crowd in the Christian hymn, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which brought many to tears.
“Just two days ago was our city’s worst day,” mayor John Cooper said. “I so wish we weren’t here, but we need to be here.”
Shaundelle Brooks, who lost her 23-year-old son, Akilah Dasilva, in the 2018 Nashville Waffle House shooting, said she went to the vigil to support the families of those slain at the school.
“I know what it’s like to be a parent — what it feels like, like you’re drowning and can’t move, and that weakness and that hole that comes in your stomach,” she said.
