Hundreds gather to mourn victims of Maine mass shooting, 24 hours after gunman killed self

MAINE – Hundreds of mourners gathered to remember victims of the Maine mass shooting at a candlelit vigil which also included a prayer for the family of gunman Robert Card.

Mail Online reported that the highly-emotional service was held in Lisbon, Maine, on a lawn beside the banks of the Androscoggin River – less than a kilometer from where Card’s body was found just 24 hours earlier.

Mourners reportetdly packed close together as the sun set and clutched candles in a powerful show of solidarity after 18 victims were murdered on Wednesday night by Card.

Many of those present, including families with babies and small children, hugged and wept during a service led by Jonathan Jones, the pastor at Lisbon Falls Baptist Church.

Read more: Suspect who killed 18 found dead in Maine from self-inflicted gunshot

Speaking into a microphone, Jones delivered a brief, religiously charged service in memory of the victims which also included a prayer for the Card family.

“We want to remember all those that are hurting tonight. My heart is, as your hearts this past week, broken for the community of Lewiston and the community of Lisbon as well, in my opinion the two best cities in the country,” Jones said who concluded by reading aloud the names of each victim.

Jones delivered his remarks almost exactly 72 hours after Card opened fire at a bowling alley in nearby Lewiston, killing six men and one woman.

Card then drove about four miles to a bar and grill, where eight more men were shot dead.

Three more victims died in hospital and at least 13 more were injured, some critically.

Card’s body was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Friday night in a container at a recycling plant just a few hundred meters along the river from where mourners gathered for the vigil.

The discovery followed a massive manhunt.

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