Dozens mourn at Seattle vigil for Las Vegas victims

SEATTLE — Nearly a week after the most deadly mass shooting in the United States, dozens of people in Seattle remembered the victims at a vigil in West Seattle.

But people outside Fauntleroy Church Saturday night did not just pray they also called for change.

Three churches – Admiral, Alki, and Fauntleroy United Church of Christ - came together to provide a space for anyone feeling hopeless about what happened in Las Vegas, and to offer a message of hope.

Dozens bowed their heads over flames that represented the lives extinguished too soon last Sunday.

Church leaders read the names and a few personal details of all the victims out loud, one by one, bringing tears to the crowd.

Amanda Vertner calls Las Vegas home, and just moved to Seattle in March. She isn’t a member of the churches but heard about the vigil and decided to attend. She says the past week had her feeling lost.

“This past week you feel so disconnected helpless, you see your hometown being destroyed and there’s nothing you can do,” Vertner said.

But she says being a part of the circle of people, each holding a light, did a little something to help.

“It just kind of started bringing the pieces back to be whole again,” she said.

The vigil went beyond prayer and remembrance. It also delivered a confession with the message that we all bear some burden of what happened last Sunday.

“As I stand here today, I confess that I have believed things would get better on their own. I confess that I was wrong,” said Pastor Andrew Conley-Holcom, of Admiral Congregational Church.

Speakers also called for action and stronger gun regulations.

“We’re complicit in these deaths if we do nothing, if we accept this is the reality of America,” Conley-Holcom said.

The vigil ended with a song calling for change.

“If real change is going to come, I know there’s work that must be done and a song is somewhere to begin,” the crowd sang.

“I believe that community, we’re more powerful together than we ever are alone,” Conley Holcom said.

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