Hundreds Remember Orlando Shooting Victims
A crowd in Champaign's West Side Park gathers to remember the shooting victims in Orlando. Jim Meadows/Illinois Public Media
Hundreds of people turned out in Champaign’s West Side Park Tuesday evening to remember the 49 people killed and 52 injured in last weekend’s mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Leslie K. Morrow with the University of Illinois Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center read the names of the 49 people who were killed by a gunman at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. The reading of names was followed by a minute of silence.
Imam Ousmane Sawadogo of the Central Illinois Mosque and Islamic Center in Urbana was the first of several religious leaders to address the gathering. He said such violence was condemned in the Quran.
Stephanie Skora of the Uniting Pride, or “UP” Center of Champaign County told those attending the vigil that the Orlando shooting had nothing to do with Islam but was the result of homophobia.
“We need to demand that people stop killing us,” Skora said.