About 40 members of the Syracuse University community gathered on the steps of Hendricks Chapel Tuesday night for a religious candlelight vigil to honor the victims and families of the Umpqua Community College shooting in Roseburg, Oregon.

At the event, which was attended by about 20 students, a Hendricks Chapel chaplain told the biblical story of Nehemiah, a man who wept and mourned after he heard that the far-off walls of Jerusalem had been broken down and its gates burned with fire.

“After hearing the reports, I could only do what Nehemiah did,” said Devon Bartholomew, the associate Baptist chaplain. “I went to my office and I sat down and I wept.”

Nine people were killed and nine more were injured in the shooting on UCC’s campus Thursday, according to NBC News. The gunman is believed to have committed suicide after exchanging gunfire with police officers, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said Saturday.

Bartholomew led the vigil. He was joined by the Samuel Clemence, the interim dean of Hendricks Chapel, as well as other religious leaders on campus.

“At Hendricks Chapel, the home of spiritual life at Syracuse University, we are deeply wounded to hear the reports that the shooter targeted people for their religious beliefs,” Bartholomew said. “It gives us all cause to press on in our pursuit of justice through interfaith dialogue so that we might reach mutual respect for each other amidst our diversity.”

President Barack Obama plans to meet with the families of the victims of the shooting in a closed-door meeting this Friday, according to NBC News.

According to Everytown For Gun Safety, an advocacy group that supports gun control legislation, there have been 45 school shootings this year, with 16 of them taking place on college campuses.

Sydney Hughes, a freshman biotechnology major, said she was disappointed with the turnout, especially because the vigil was related to a major national news story.

“I’m surprised more people didn’t come,” Hughes said. “They (the victims) were kids just like us.”

Through tears, Hughes added that her brother is a student at the University of Oregon, which is about an hour away from the UCC campus. Although neither her brother nor the University of Oregon were involved in the shooting, Hughes said a shooting like the one at UCC could have happened on any college campus.

“It could have happened to any of us,” she said, still crying.

Shubhika Prakash, a sophomore public communications major, is from Portland, Oregon, and said she knows the Roseburg community well because her best friend’s family lives there.

“Roseburg is a very small community, so if something happens, everyone is behind them,” Prakash said.

“I’m a very emotional person as is … But it all came out after and I let it out,” she said with tears in her eyes. “Even though we are so far away, we are still there for them.”

Published on October 6, 2015 at 10:17 pm

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu