OXFORD, Mich. – The Oxford community came together Friday night for a vigil to honor the victims of this week’s Oxford High School shooting.
Four students -- Hana St. Juliana, 14, Tate Myre, 16, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17 -- were killed in the shooting, and seven others -- six students and one teacher -- were injured.
The vigil began at 7 p.m. Friday (Dec. 3). The vigil began with church bells, that rang for four minutes. Each minute represented a victim who was lost.
In attendance was Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, Sen. Rosemayer Bayer, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Pastor Matt Schuler with Journey Lutheran Church.
“Michiganders are strong, but we are brokenhearted right now. This week we lost four beautiful young souls. There are others in the hospital and many healing. Thousands in this community have been impacted. We’ve lived through one of the worst weeks in Michigan history. But this week we’ve also seen some of the best in one another. We’ve seen the best in our kids, who are stronger than we could’ve ever imagined. We’ve seen the best in our teachers, who acted quickly and saved lives,” Whitmer said.
There was a brief moment during the vigil in which someone in attendance passed out, causing some panic. The situation was brought under control shortly after and Bouchard and others on stage reassured the crowd that everything was OK.
The vigil concluded just after 8 p.m. with Ava Swieczkowski singing “Rise Up” by Andra Day.
- You can watch a recording of the vigil in the video player above.
