Pasadena Church Holds Vigil Tonight to Honor Victims of South Carolina Shootings

Pasadena residents continue to express sadness and outrage over Wednesday’s massacre of nine members of the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

This Friday night, Pasadena’s First African Methodist Episcopal Church is leading a Candlelight Prayer Vigil and Call to Action, in honor of the victims and their grieving families and fellow church members.

The vigil will begin at 6 p.m. outside the FAME church at 1700 N. Raymond Avenue.

Rev. Nikia Smith Robert of the local AME church said the vigil is an “urgent response to the tragic and senseless racially motivated killings,” in a message to Pasadena Now.

“We must remain vigilant and persevere against hateful acts or racially motivated terrorism that persists to devalue and destroy black lives and brown lives,” Robert said.

FAME is expecting Pasadena City Mayor Terry Tornek and other elected officials to attend the prayer vigil. Pasadena’s Police Chief Phillip L. Sanchez and the representatives of other local churches have also been invited.

On Thursday afternoon, dozens of Pasadena residents gathered at the Fuller Theological Seminary joined a prayer service where the names of the victims were read one by one.

The suspect in Wednesday’s massacre, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, is now in police custody after he was arrested in Shelby, North Carolina. Authorities say he has confessed to the crime.