Community members join in prayer for shooting victims

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Many are turning to prayer to deal with the gun violence this week. Friday night, members of ‘Be the Bridge to Racial Unity’, a national organization looking break down racial barriers, hosted a prayer vigil for the victims in Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas.

Carlmiya Powell, who attended the vigil at Wallace Park, described how she was feeling was like a rollercoaster of emotions.

“I feel like the first thing is this sadness, and then there’s this anger, but I think at the end of the day it’s fear because as a black woman I have a black dad, black brothers and uncles and even just myself afraid of what could happen,” said Powell.

Gina Fimbel, a member of the local ‘Be the Bridge’ group, said prayer is a way to handle this situation.

“We’re feeling that brokenness. We feel it. We see it on the news. We see it on social media and so I think people just need a place to come together,” said Fimbel.

Ethan Welch, pastor of The Bridge Church in Wilmington, said maybe if there are more places for people to come together maybe there can be an end to the discord.

“I think the reason why we have so much division in our culture is that we don’t have unity in our differences,” said Welch. “Rather than be unified in our differences, we rather divide from one another and cast stones.”