Few communities know firsthand the heartache experienced by Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 26 children and adults Friday at a local elementary school.
But one community that experienced its own deadly shooting took time Saturday to remember the victims who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Fox 6 Now reported.
The Sikh Temple in Brookfield, Wis., which was the site of a mass shooting that left 6 people dead in August 2012, held a prayer service and vigil Saturday night for the victims of the Connecticut rampage.
“It was important for us because our wounds are still fresh. We are still healing. And we wanted those people to know that we feel their pain. We’ve been through this. And we want to pray for them,” Gurcharan Singh Grewal, the temple’s president, said. “And we want to convey to them the message that we’re not alone. The whole nation is with you. So hang tough, pray and we will get over it.”
According to the station, the service opened with a “kirten,” or hymns, from their community’s holy scripture called the Guru Granth Sahib. This was done in memory of the children and the teachers who were murdered.
“They were just innocent young children. They had a lot to do with their life here and their life just got lost too early. It should not happen at a place at all. It should not happen anywhere at all, but I think it was the worst thing to happen in an elementary school,” Grewal said.
After the hymns, the dozens of people in attendance gathered to light candles and then sat down together to share a meal.
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