MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – People in different parts of Horry County gathered Friday to remember those killed in the Charleston church shooting this time last year.
Nine church members were shot and killed at Emanuel AME while studying their Bibles in a basement room at the historic church. Dylann Roof, faces death penalty trials in both state and federal courts.
Friday morning, a group met at Chapin Memorial Park in Myrtle Beach to comfort one another and talk about the violence in our country.
“I’m encouraged today, by the nine that gathered here to say that yes we care and yes we will change,” said group leader Bennie Swans.
Swans says with the recent shooting in Orlando and the anniversary of the Emanuel AME church shooting, our country faces more problems than ever before.
“As I look at mothers going by, to give birth to a child and to have to witness that child being destroyed with automatic weapons, because they’re different. No, we can’t tolerate that in our society and it has nothing to do with Democratic or Republican we must stand together as a collective, and fight for the right of human life,” said Swans.
The vigils continued in Conway Friday afternoon as several people brought flowers, walked with one another, prayed together, and comforted one another as they say it’s time to put political views aside when it comes to gun laws and care about the value of human life.
“If we know that people have mental health problems why in the world would we not want to have proper background checks to prevent those people from smashing the lives of our loved ones,” said Swans.
Those that came to the vigil at the Conway Marina Friday evening say its now time to take action to prevent another mass shooting.
“They just affect larger and larger numbers of people and how dare we sit back and say that’s ok, just keep shooting us,” Conway Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy said.
Several families and students also attended Friday’s vigils. They told News13 their work won’t end there but is just getting started as the fight moves forward for tougher gun laws.
“There are young people in South Carolina right now who are defying the odds of southern versus gun control. We are against it and we would like to show everyone that by showing up today we will fight to end it,” Brittany Alford said.
Those who attended the vigils now encourage the community to call and write legislatures encouraging them to take action.
