For a brief moment Monday night, all was still at the base of Gainesville City Hall.
Only the sound of 59 bell chimes filled the air as about 40 residents and organizers stood with bowed heads and candles in hand to honor the 59 killed and hundreds injured after the Las Vegas Strip shooting Sunday night.
Each chime was meant for every individual one by one who passed away, said Amanda Welch, a membership organizer for the Gainesville branch of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
“This is not normal, this is not inevitable,” Welch, 35, told the crowd. “This is not the price we have to pay for living in a free society, and it never should be discussed as such.”
Welch said she decided to start organizing the vigil at about 8 a.m., right after she woke up to the news on her phone. It was important for her to open up a space for the community to gather in solidarity in light of the tragedy, she said.
In the moment of silence, as residents passed the candles to one another, Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe knelt to the ground.
“Here we are again,” Poe said in his address ahead of the silence.
Just a little more than a year ago, residents gathered in the very same courtyard to honor those lost in the Pulse nightclub shooting, Poe said. He also called for a ban on assault rifle weapons of the likes used in Las Vegas and Orlando.
“An event like what happened in Las Vegas forces us to question the very faith on which we depend,” he said. “I know that we can move forward.”
After the last bell chimed during the candlelit silence, chorus members with the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church sang “Amazing Grace.”
Some closed their eyes. Others hugged and held hands during the chorale. All the while, the light from the candles shined brighter and brighter as the sun continued to set.
To close out the ceremony, one singer asked for everyone in the crowd to chant peace in any language of their choosing in unison.
“Peace.”
Gainesville resident Jim White wore a We Are Orlando T-shirt to the vigil. For White, 60, attending the ceremony was about showing face.
“I think it’s important,” he said. “It’s important to show that we are here, that we care.”
White said he was so devastated when he woke to news of the shooting that he took to Twitter to post his sentiment, which had received 399 likes and 147 retweets ahead of the vigil.
In the post, he used profanity to disparage the National Rifle Association and said there’s “no f—ing reason” for automatic weapons besides paving the way for mass shootings.
“That pretty much sums up my view,” he said.
Greg West was the first resident to walk up to the vigil site. About 30 minutes ahead of the ceremony, West approached the courtyard fountains and paused for a moment by the pool of water.
The Santa Fe College business junior, and one of the Holy Episcopal members who sang during ceremony, said he needed some time to himself before the vigil.
His heart sank when he first heard the news on the way to school, he said.
“I felt like I needed a couple minutes to myself,” West, 21, said. “The last few weeks with (Hurricane) Irma, Maria, now this — it’s just been one thing after another.”
Being a part of the vigil and seeing his community come together in love and hope, West said he felt comfort and reassurance that the issue of gun violence can eventually be solved.
“I think that’s what the country needs right now,” he said. “Being together like this, showing support that’s what we need to do for each other.”
