Just two days after the deaths of eight students and two substitute teachers, graduating seniors also marked the end of the school year with a baccalaureate service that acknowledged the pain experienced in Santa Fe, a town of 13,000, while Muslim mourners remembered the life of a slain exchange student from Pakistan.
“They will never be forgotten in this community, these young people, children just going to school,” said Brad Drake, pastor of the Dayspring Church, where a service was held that included memories of a student victim who was a congregant there.
“We have families today that are grieving a grief that none of us can comprehend.”
The pastor read the names of the dead, including Angelique Ramirez who attended Dayspring and was a member of the church’s youth ministry.
“She was a sweet young lady, had a style all of her own,” he recalled. “She almost always had a new hairstyle.”
In a nearby church kitchen, parishioners prepared plates of barbecue to be sold after the service, with all proceeds going to victims’ families.
At Arcadia First Baptist Church, Texas Governor Greg Abbott hugged parishioners as they arrived. Among them was Monica Bracknell, an 18-year-old senior who survived the shooting. She stopped to tell the governor that the attack should not be turned into a political battle over gun control.
Surrounded by television cameras, photographers and…
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