Vigils Planned to Honor Kalamazoo Shooting Victims Tuesday Night
West Michigan is continuing to come together to remember the victims of the Kalamazoo shootings Saturday night. Two vigil events are planned for Tuesday night to honor the victims and their families and to pray for an end to violence.
Fox 17 reports that Mattawan Schools is holding a candlelight vigil at 7p.m. on the soccer field to remember the Smith family. Tyler, a senior at Mattawan High School, and his father Richard were looking at cars at Seelye Kia on Stadium Drive when they were killed by the gunman.
One of Tyler's friends, Kat Perkins, set up a GoFundMe account on behalf of the Mattawan Class of 2016 to help support the Smith family.
Mattawan Schools were in session yesterday with crisis counselors and staff on site.
Kat told Fox 17 what it was like at the High School yesterday: "We held school, but we didn't really hold classes very much. We kind of all got together and supported each other. I like to call them little support groups. We had probably about 100 of them set up around the school. It was hard. There was a lot of crying."
Of her friend Tyler, Kat said, "He was very funny. Once you were his friend you were always his friend."
The Western Student Association is holding another candlelight vigil tonight at the Western Michigan University flagpoles at 7:00p.m.
Six people were killed in the shooting spree Saturday night and two were injured.
Mary Lou Nye, 62, of Baroda, Mich.; Mary Jo Nye, 60, of Battle Creek, Mich.; Dorothy Brown, 74, of Battle Creek, Mich.; and Barbara Hawthorne, 68, of Battle Creek, Mich. lost their lives when the gunman opened fire at a Texas Township Cracker Barrel.
The first victim, a woman shot multiple times at The Meadows Townhomes, is in serious condition but expected to survive.
A 14-year-old victim wounded at the Cracker Barrel shooting remains in critical condition.
Shooting suspect, 45-year-old Jason Dalton, was arrested and charged with six counts of open murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, and eight counts of felony firearms.