A candlelight vigil for those affected by the Las Vegas shooting brought thousands of people together in Santa Clarita on Wednesday evening at Marketplace Park.
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Two Las Vegas shooting survivors —Santa Clarita residents Cesar Ranuschio, owner of Body Shop 661, and Erin Acquaviva, a local teacher — shared words with the attendees in the crowd holding candles to honor those who couldn’t be there.
A tearful Acquaviva shared a poem she wrote. It began, “I was there… but today I am here…”
Previous Story: Santa Clarita Teacher Erin Acquaviva Recounts Las Vegas Massacre – October 2, 2017
Inspirational messages from two of the victims of the Las Vegas shooting, as well as a few words from Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth and a number of faith-based leaders were shared with the crowd.
Smyth spoke to attendees and acknowledged the strength he saw in the Santa Clarita community, among other cities who responded to the initial attack.
“What we take away from this is how you saw how this community and others responded and the number of heroes that you probably will never hear about that put their life on the line to save people that they didn’t know,” Smyth said. “There have been many times that I have been proud to serve as the mayor of this wonderful city, but tonight, it just might be the proudest moment that I’ve had to serve as the mayor.”
Carl Goldman, KHTS co-owner and co-founder of the Santa Clarita Coalition, one of the groups that organized the vigil, said the event was a powerful way for the community to continue the healing process.
“The event was organized in under a week,” he said, “with the incredible collaborative effort of all the groups involved.”
Representatives from local and state offices also were in attendance, including state Assemblyman Dante Acosta.
Transformational life coach and author Alex Urbina, who co-hosted the discussion “Santa Clarita Grieves” earlier this week, spoke at the event and offered words of encouragement.
“It is through these challenging times that we face,” Urbina said, “where we discover the courage that it takes to press on and persevere.”
Goldman recalled a notable moment at the vigil that showed community strength.
“A touching moment came toward the very end of the vigil when Santa Clarita Country Showdown winner Savannah Burrows sang her version of ‘God Bless America’ with the audience of 3,000 waving their candles and singing along,” Goldman said. “The song was performed on stage at the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert one hour before the shooting by the country act, Big & Rich.”
A special candle was lit for the 58 deceased victims for 58 seconds of silence for those concert goers who were killed at the festival.
“Special greeting cards were made for each of the Santa Clarita victims,” Goldman said. “We’ll be displaying those cards online and on our website tomorrow and sharing them with the victims.”
There have been at least 14 people that have been identified as Santa Clarita residents wounded in America’s deadliest mass shooting. One Santa Clarita man, John Phippen, and one Palmdale resident, Jenny Parks, were killed.
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