Honor and respect took place in the form of a vigil Monday night at Drake Park in Bend.
The vigil was for the two victims of a shooting at Safeway in Bend Sunday night.
“We wanted to pay tribute to the victims and also to be a part of the community,” said Heather Davis Vanatta, Bend resident at the vigil. “It’s so difficult what’s happened.”
Heather and her husband David Vanatta were two of hundreds who gathered for the vigil.
“After something so tragic, we all need to feel that sense of community and we need to be here for one another,” said Contessa Mendoza, who lives near the shooting.
People were shaken that something like this would happen in a small Oregon town.
“To see things like this happen in such a place, where this kind of stuff would never happen before, it just breaks my heart and makes you feel like you really figure out and focus on what is really happening, so we can not see something like this happen again,” said Mendoza.
Singers took the stage at the beginning and the end of the vigil, while a few spoke in between songs.
This tragedy hit Heather and David close to home as they lived in New York near the Sandy Hook shooting.
“That was such a horrific experience. We live with it still,” said Vanatta. “No one ever thinks it’s going to be your town, your shopping center, your school and yet it is.”
Tears were shed and hugs were given, paying respects and mourning Glenn Edward Bennett and Donald Ray Surrett Jr.
RELATED: ’Heroic’: Bend Safeway worker among dead in shooting, tried disarming suspect
RELATED: Bend neighbors grapple with reality of violence after deadly Safeway shooting
RELATED: Fundraiser launched for family of Bend Safeway shooting victim
RELATED: Bend Safeway employee: Workers hid in refrigerator during shooting
RELATED: Bend Safeway shooting witness heard dozens of shots, saw people running out
▶️ REPLAY: Central Oregon Daily News special report on shooting at Bend Safeway
