Students and residents alike came out to pay their respects to the six students killed after a gunman went on a rampage near the University of California, Santa Barbara last Friday.
The ceremony, which was attended by 17,000, was held at Harder Stadium at UC Santa Barbara Tuesday night. Students lit candles and shared stories about the victims. Janet Napolitano, president of the University of the California system, paid her condolences to the slain victims.
“Frankly, I wish I were not here today,” she said. “None of us wants to be here for an occasion like this, but we are here because a series of violent crimes took the lives of six of our students and injured nine more. “These were individuals who each left a mark on the world around them..As long as we hold them in our hearts they are not gone.”
After posting chilling videos about his hardships with women and becoming more social, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger stabbed his three roommates and shot and killed three others, including Richard Martinez’s son, Christopher Michaels-Martinez. Richard addressed the crowd and received a standing ovation after his heartfelt speech.
“Life doesn’t have to be like this,” he said. I’m gonna ask you to shout the words, ‘Not one more.’ Not one more!” Richard Martinez said from the podium to a standing ovation and chants repeating the mantra. “Too many people have died, and there should be not one more. How many more people are going to have to die in this situation before the problem gets solved?”
The tragedy has raised talks about multiple issues, including gun control, mental illness and relationships between men and women.
SOURCE: NBC Los Angeles | VIDEO CREDIT: News Inc.
