NEWS

Local vigil to be held for Orlando shooting victims

Free Press Staff

The Pride Center of Vermont is organizing a march and vigil in Burlington on Monday in honor of the victims of a mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

The Pride Center of Vermont is organizing an vigil on Monday to remember the victims of a mass shooting in an Orlando, Florida, night club.

Events are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the top of Church Street at the First Unitarian Universalist Society church. The group will then march down Church Street to City Hall Park. The vigil is scheduled to last about an hour, according to an invitation created by the Pride Center on Facebook.

Fifty people have died and 53 more were wounded as a result of the shooting at Pulse Orlando, a gay nightclub, making it the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. history.

"Upon hearing the news of the largest mass shooting tragedy in the country, we, the LGBTQ community and our allies in Vermont will come together to pay respect to the people lost in this horrific event and to offer our support to the LGBTQA community of Orlando," the Pride Center said in its Facebook invitation. LGBTQA is an acronym that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and allies.

Pride Center director Kim Fountain added in a statement, "Our hearts are heavy today with the news of this tragedy. June 12 will be forever etched in our communities' history as a day of extraordinary grief."

As of 2:30 p.m. Sunday, 69 people had confirmed they would attend the Burlington event, and 64 others said they were interested in attending.

More information can be found either on Pride Center of Vermont's Facebook page or by calling the Pride Center at 860-7812.

Contributing: USA TODAY.