
CARLOS MORALES | MARFA PUBLIC RADIO
The country is reeling in the aftermath of three recent shootings that took place in California, Ohio and Texas during the span of one week.
On Saturday in the border city of El Paso, a violent rampage at a Walmart became one of the deadliest in Texas history, leaving 22 dead and dozens more injured.
The incident was too close to home for many who spend time in what residents call the safe, family-oriented Cielo Vista neighborhood.
On Sunday morning, some 70 parishioners came to worship at Immanuel Baptist — one of the churches closest to the site of Saturday’s deadly mass shooting.
Julianna De Leon led the worship service. She has been part of the congregation for years. Like the thousands of shoppers who were at this Walmart on Saturday morning, she was a regular at the store.
“I think the thing that was most terrifying for me was that, I mean, that’s my Walmart. That’s the Walmart we shop at,” she said. “We were there three times this past week. So, it was pretty scary.”
She came to her church on Sunday to find a way to cope and to help lead the congregation in praying for the victims and their families.
“As a Christian, I feel like now is the time to be a message of hope and a message that there is somebody who can carry the burden and comfort the ones that desperately need to be comforted and that’s Jesus,” she said.
Click here to read more.
SOURCE: KERA News