‘We Lost Two Family Members in One Day,’ Mourners Tell CNN Reporter at Vigil for Indianapolis Shooting Victims

CNN reporter Jason Carroll interviewed grieving family members at a vigil in Indianapolis for a mass shooting at a FedEx facility Thursday night. The gunman was a former employee of that location. He killed eight people, four of whom were members of the local Sikh community, before turning the gun on himself.

“How is the community responding, and what have police been able to find out so far?” asked CNN Newsroom anchor Pamela Brown, calling it “heartbreaking” that America had seen at least 45 mass shootings in just the past month.

Carroll noted that family, friends, and local residents were starting to gather at a park for a candlelight vigil for the shooting victims, and some of them had asked to speak to reporters. “The Sikh community feels especially targeted because,” said Carroll, “many of the people who work at that FedEx facility were members of the Sikh community.”

The victims ranged in age from 74 years old to the two youngest, who were both 19 years old.

“She was the most amiable in the family, most diligent, dedicated,” said one woman as she held up a photo of her family member who had died. “Today we were supposed to have a big celebration, but now we are mourning, we are in grief.”

“We lost two family members in one day,” said another woman. “It’s completely devastating for us. We never expected something like this to happen.”

“We never expected that, you know, they would go to work and we would never see them again,” she continued, adding that one of the victims was her aunt who wasn’t supposed to be at work that day.

“She was supposed to take the day off but then she decided, oh, well, let me just go in. Didn’t know she was — she wasn’t going to come–” she choked up and had to pause before continuing.

“We never expected that something like this would happen to us,” she said. “We read about gun violence every single day. It’s not acceptable anymore. Something needs to be done about it. Our government, everyone, we need to do something about this.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!