Hundreds of community members gathered at the Capitol Tuesday night to grieve and memorialize the student and teacher who died in Monday’s shooting at Abundant Life Christian School.
The vigil, organized by the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, was planned to provide a safe space for Madison youth after the traumatic event. Michael Johnson, president of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, began the vigil with a moment of silence to honor the victims.
“We come together to begin the healing journey for our children,” Johnson said. He emphasized the need to offer love to community members, then invited everyone to hug the person next to them.
Madison residents crowded the Capitol with support, offering prayers to everyone around. Hundreds of community members helped light candles or signed the crosses in honor of the victims.
“We’re so grateful for this outpouring of love,” Chuck Moore, executive director of Impact Christian Schools, which oversees Abundant Life, said at the vigil. “This great community is a community that loves.”
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway took the stage, reassuring community members that “it’s okay to not be okay.” She said she wants Madison to be a place to take care of each other, especially the students, teachers and first-responders involved in the tragic shooting.
There is a long list of people to thank for stepping up to help, like first-responders and food providers, Rhodes-Conway said. Multiple services and organizations offered dinner to students and families Monday night, such as the Rocky Rococo on the same street as Abundant Life Christian School. Rhodes-Conway said this type of community, grace and kindness gives her hope for the community.
Although Abundant Life Christian School is not part of Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), the Board of Education is “heartbroken” for the families and victims, MMSD Superintendent Joe Gothard said. The tragedy affected him personally, Gothard said, because his childhood home is less than two blocks away from the school.
“We have to confront the realities to make sure that we are creating safe schools, safe communities, safe places for our children,” Gothard said. He said words are not enough to avoid “preventable tragedies” like school shootings, instead everyone must find a way to connect on a deeper level.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan were not able to attend the vigil, but their separate messages were read by Boys and Girls Club representatives.
Baldwin said her thoughts are with everyone traumatized by this “senseless gun violence.” Both she and Pocan said no student should be afraid to go to school and they refuse to sit idly by without change. One community member said the U.S. Senate should be pushing for more federal gun control and hopes that Baldwin and Pocan hold themselves to what they said.
