Vancouver candlelight vigil to be held tonight for Orlando nightclub massacre victims

Jun 13 2016, 12:27 am

NOTE: Organizers have changed the vigil start time at the Vancouver Art Gallery to 8 pm.

A candlelight vigil will be held outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on the West Georgia Street plaza side Sunday evening after a shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub left at least 50 people dead and another 50 injured.

The incident at Pulse Nightclub began at 2 am local time Sunday morning when the shooter began firing at the club patrons with an assault rifle. After gunfire exchanges with police officers, it escalated into a hostage situation, which ended at approximately 5 am after the SWAT team stormed in and killed the suspect.

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Approximately 320 people were inside the nightclub when the shooting began, and police and FBI are now investigating whether this was a hate-motivated crime.

“No one wants to wake up to news that there’s been another mass shooting,” Andi Scout Bee, the Vancouver vigil organizer, told Daily Hive. “And no queer person wants to wake up to news that 50 members of their community have been senselessly killed just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one wants to hear that.”

“For me, I need people to know they aren’t alone in this. I think deep down we all know we aren’t alone, but it isn’t enough to just know that. We need to hear it and see it. That’s what this is about.”

The vigil in downtown Vancouver tonight starts at 8 pm. Rainfall is not forecasted.

Vancouver Candlelight Vigil for Orlando Massacre

When: Sunday, June 12, 2016

Time: 8 pm

Where: West Georgia Street plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery

Kenneth ChanKenneth Chan

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