people are gathering outside of san jose city hall tonight for the vigil which will include san jose's mayor. other elected officials, religious leaders, managers from the vta as well as a reading of the names, lighting of candles and the singing of amazing grace. this is a chance to grieve together for the people killed yesterday. >> on nine have been identified. they were all of vta employees on men ranging in age from 29- 63. they will each be remembered at the vigil outside of san jose city hall. wayne freedman has been there all day long where a memorial has been growing. >> good evening them. as a have been saying for two days san jose is a grieving city. if you look over my shoulder this is the plaza outside of san jose city hall which in the last hour has grown with so many people. while there is no good way to grieve together is better than

alone. that is what this events will be about tonight. we should note that what we have seen here now has been growing all day since before dawn. everyday people coming to pay respects. a slow parade of people some filled with the grief and others in respect all of them in shock. >> it happens in other places. change needs to take place. >> it just hits home. it is just so sad for so long and then it hits one of my old from your house and then reignites the whole thing, you know? >> reporter: for those who know best unfortunately those are though ones who through this tragedy. so many people connected in so many ways. a short time ago i saw many many vta workers inside of a

restaurant all wearing t- shirts. they did not come out to join the crowd. after what happens we do have a bit of a schedule. it begins with the mayor and he will read the names of all nine victims. there are photos of all the victims on care. they will follow with faith leaders who will light nine candles in respect of the victims. then a moment of silence. following that we will hear from glenn hendrix. he is the president of the vta board of directors. we will hear from the congresswoman supervisor cindy chavez, role paralysis lost a friend in that shooting. we spent some time at that story yesterday. five hours he didn't know the outcome and then he found out the tragic result. state sen. dave cortez, santa clara county dist. atty., john courtney the president of atu. we are also going to hear from several religious leaders. everyone will speak for roughly 2 minutes. this events well finish and conclude with the singing of

amazing grace. none of this will ease the pain but coming together we are certainly hoping it will help. localities people gathered here tonight. if you don't believe this has impacted san jose and touched everyone, look at the crowd still filing in to the area outside the san jose civic center. earlier today we spent some time with flowers and flags names of the victims and a memorial outside. the flags have been not have staff all day. it is a constant group of people filtering in leaving their messages. among them a vta bus driver who parked his bus about 100 yards away, walked over dropped flowers and then went back and got onto his bus. we asked him why he was here and why he stopped the bus. it turns out one of the men killed in that shooting yesterday was a friend of his from his own village.

is is i don't know what we are going to do now but we are going to have to do something. there is a great feeling here that this community needs to reach out and help these victims and the families of these victims. there was another woman out there today. she never said a word. she was grief stricken beyond anything we have ever seen. she cannot get a word out. a local woman who was cleaning the area went up to her, put her arm around the woman and they held each other for a while. after that i asked the woman why she did that and she said well, wouldn't you want that if someone you loved lost someone so dear? it has been that way for all day. let's take a look one more time. we are waiting for the ceremony to begin. still it jams up. it appears we have everyone here who will be here. >> i suspect we will have a

very emotional ceremony. people here are hugging each other. strangers are hugging each other. >> quite the moments. i like the phrase he used, emotional, saturn and so many ways that is what is happening. we will carry this as soon as it begins life. for the moment let's continue. >> as we made wait for the mayor to take the podium today, the widow of victim lars kepler lane spoke only to abc7 news. they had been married for two decades and have plans to retire next year. luz pena spoke to vicki lane. >> a ficus like a puzzle, vicki is picking up the pieces alone. has been a best friend of 22 years killed. >> he was my soulmate. he was my total so make. the love of my life. he was a wonderful person. i am going to miss him. msm now.

so much. it is just seem real. >> vicki has played the last 24 hours back-and-forth. the last time she heard her husband's voice was tuesday night. >> we say other because i was in sacramento. when i heard the news wednesday morning i tried calling and it went straight to voicemail. >> vicki raced to the vta railyard hoping he survived. >> i had a feeling but i always had hope until the last second. >> at 6:oh 5 pm on wednesday she said her world collapsed. lars, a lineman for they vta was killed by a coworker, someone he talked to. >> why he had to shoot him, i don't know. he knew that man too. >> you did?

>> he did know that man. he said he was a quiet man. >> on the side of the dining room a birthday gift. lars was turning 64 saturday. >> that was one of his birthday presents. he had already opened another one earlier. >> reporter: vicki wants lars to be remembered by his sense of humor, his love for his family and friends. he was planning to retire next year. he leaves behind for children and their dog. >> i am going to miss him. >> what are you going to miss the most? >> just holding him. that is what i am going to miss. he always gave me a big hug every day >> there last puzzle and complete resembling their heart. 22 pieces to go, 22 years married and a lifetime of memories cut short.

today, vicki is carrying on his legacy one piece at a time. >> oh yes! it was a big thing with us. >> your heart breaks for that woman of course. here is a live picture in front of san jose city hall where people are gathering. it is a chance for so many in the community and hundreds have come as you can see to gather and grief. jose dejesus hernandez iii and paul delacruz megia families remember the two lives that were taken far too soon. >> flowers were left outside of the home outside of jose

dejesus hernandez iii. he was one of the nine men killed yesterday at the light railyard. we spoke to his father today who had been visiting relatives in mexico. >> i started calling people and calling people. my wife went to the sheriff department and confirmed that he was gone. >> hernandez started at the vta as a mechanic and later worked as an electrician. >> a wonderful young man. willing to help everybody or anybody. >> i want people to remember him as a good guy, a good man.

>> became good friends. >> this whole thing is a nightmare. i was hoping they would, backpack or text. >> rodriguez told us of the reality of his friends death is painfully settling in. so many heavy hearts. once again, we take you live to outside of san jose city hall where you see the mayor and a number of other elected officials and those holding signs. the scene of the black as we have seen in the past few minutes continues to grow. we also see spots of whites, people donning white shirts with all of the names of the vic comes and there own way of

paying tribute. today, family members of light rail operator taptejdeep singh told us they were not surprised to learn that 36-year-old acted to save lives of others . friends, coworkers and loved ones could not hide their grief as they gathered at the family home in union city. carmen described his older brother as their favorite their mother and grandmother. he says the husband and father of two will never be replaced. >> i want to honor his life as much as i can. he was my idol. in one way or another i hated him for being so strict with me at times. he would keep me from going to parties and he would lecture me on things but at the same time it was my strength. >> what a remarkable soul. comments as his brother enjoyed his job and his coworkers and today he learned to minutes after the gunfire began

yesterday, taptejdeep singh called one of his coworkers to tell them to stay away. that is just another sign of his true heroism. >> a remarkable story. can you imagine in the middle of the chaos to have the courage to call someone and warned them? again, live at san jose city hall. roughly almost 36 hours after the shooting we are a little behind schedule. the vigil was scheduled to start at 6:00 but no surprise this is put together quickly and it is a complex undertaking to honor these nine victims. a couple of dozen speakers at least i said to take the podium. i am sure some last minute organization is underway. we do expect this to begin moment. of course, we intend to carry it for you live. certainly, this tragedy affects all of us. if you need some support please remember we have resources to help. go to

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hearts, flowers and candles. our cameras captured captured a small memorial to honor the vta employees killed in yesterday's shooting. with just a few hours it had grown dramatically. people added a city of san jose flag as well as a san jose sharks jersey with the names of the victims written on it. this has drawn a crowd of

people to share grief and a public vigil set to begin any moment. hundreds of people have gathered. let's show you a live picture from outside san jose city hall. many people wearing masks as appropriate of course in this gathering of people who are coming together to grieve and honor nine people -- innocent people killed. this is mayor san ricardo. >> thank you for being here and for sharing their love. thank you for sharing your commitment to our friends and family members who have been lost. above all, thank you for sharing yourself. i would like to first introduce angela --. [

somewhere over the rainbow, way up high and the dream that you dreamed of once in a lullaby @ ♪ somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly ♪ and, the dream that you dream of dreams really do come true the mac someday i'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far

behind me ♪ where troubles melt like lemon drops, way above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me [ music somewhere over the rainbow >> we have lost the audio signal for a moment. we have another source we are working on. as you listen to the singular

finish a beautiful rendition of that song after mayor san ricardo's remarks we will get the audio as quickly as we can. we understand it is the city's feed but hundreds and hundreds of people gathered to listen to a couple of dozen speakers honor the victims. >> you see there the main mayor tapping on the microphone hoping for the audio to be connected. we also have members of the islamic association. also, the vta board of directors. the members of the community coming out to show their support and the audio appears to be back. let's take a listen. >> thank you for your patience. we will do our very best to make sure when you came to the aid of angela when the

microphones went out. it was such a beautiful symbol for our community. they step up for each other. the song was even more beautiful when everyone joined in together. thank you. >> it is my honor to serve you as the mayor of the city of san jose. i would like to read the names of our lost friends, colleagues and family members. i would like to ask our faith leaders to come up to the stage to light candles in their honor. then, i would ask for a moment of silence.

paul delacruz megia . adrian balleza. [ no audio ] >> well, we apologize for these technical difficulties. they are not coming from our end. it is the city of san jose's feed. you see sam liccardo. let's listen as we continue. our apologies for the delay. this was hastily assembled as you can imagine just 36 hours after the shooting. >> taptejdeep singh. >> jose dejesus hernandez iii.

>> [ no audio ] >> once again, it looks like we have more audio issues coming from the city. that podium -- we are back. >> timothy michael romo. michael joseph rudometkin. lars kepler lane. abdolvahab alaghmandan . alex ward fritch. please join us in a moment of silence.

>> thank you. i would now like to introduce latoya how are. latoya howard. welcome latoya.

>> can you hear me clear out there? we have been seeking so fast into this everlasting -- [ no audio ] >> we have a generation yet to know patients and yet to know the love while labs are being struck. tenacity is needed. persistence and -- [ no audio ] . our world is an impeachment! humility, ask questions and love dialogue. humility assumes -- others. [ no audio ] mediator full of hospitality.

the one who knew you and knew me. this is what i call our reality. so, i say again, we are in a dying need. until i understand humility and let love speak, i will forever be in this here reality. my condolences to the ones i have lost. loved ones and friends. may this not be though and of us coming together but soon this will be the beginning. hope. >> thank you. i do my best and yell as loud as i can. we are going to try to get through this together.

thank you all for being here in this moment. we have been apart for more than one year. arf pandemic and isolation and tragedy. today, we are here together as one community. we are here because members of our community, our colleagues, our family members, our friends, our loved ones are suffering. each of us feels our own pain as well. we are here to share our pain. we are here to share our love. we are here to share our support for each other in the difficult days ahead. huling for many will be a long, difficult path. we are here to express our commitment to one another. to walk with our friends and family on that long road to healing.

we are here to express a singular message in our community, we will heal and we will heal together. i am joined by coworkers of our fallen heroes, faith leaders, community leaders and most importantly all of you. i know all of my colleagues here from the city of san jose are here and i would like to acknowledge them as i can. they are standing behind me and of course you may not be able to see all of them but i will simply indicate vice mayor jones, council mayor sergio jimenez, councilmember roper allis, councilmember david cohen. councilmember davis, councilmember esparza, councilmember sylvia --. councilmember pam foley. i know councilmember matt mayhem

wanted to be here but sadly had a tragic loss in his own family and cannot be here. we are here together as one community and one city. the president has declared a day of mourning and vice president kamala harris got me to offer words. she called most importantly to remind me that an entire nation together. most importantly, we will heal together. thank you again for being here with us. it is my pleasure now

pleasure to introduce a tremendous leader the head of the board of directors glenn hendrix. >> i am going to try to see if everyone can hear me. i want to thank everyone for being here. after a terrible tragedy of yesterday, it is so inspiring to see so many people out here to show you love and respect

for the vta family. i really want to thank you. i am going to be brief in my comments and i have two things to say. i have a request for all of you. when you are out during your day around the county and you see a bus driver or you see someone with a vta vest on, wave and smile to them. the power of a smile is awesome. the second thing i would like to share in my family we start as not a tradition but something we do, we write haiku's. as i went home last night after the day, i needed to deal with my own thoughts and emotions, i went ahead and wrote something. i would like to share it with you. our friends will be missed.

nine will inspire us. thank you for being here this afternoon. >> thank you, glenn. i am grateful john courtney, the courageous leader with the amalgamated transit union representing the men and women is here. thank you john for being here and for your leadership. >> we love you guys and girls. that is what it is all about. be there, hold each other, love each other. kiss each other when you get

home from the end of the day. we are all we have got. we are all we know. we are all we need. please, whatever we need to do to get support, i know i need it myself but these aren't names to as. these are people we know and would love and we have seen every single day of our working lives. you really, really hurts down to the very core of our souls. fees, let's do what we do and stand with each other, for each other, by:. please, please, just love each other. thank you! >> i would like to introduce the rock of atu. atu international president john costa. thank you, john. thank you everybody for being

here. atu, 265 on behalf of 200,000 members and the united states and canada our condolences go out to the families. your loss, your brothers, my brothers, we can have our condolences. i also want to recognize the labor movement. yesterday, all of the unions, they have all expressed their condolences. i want to recognize the firefighters and law enforcement that were on the ground to stop this. firefighters were still on the ground giving members support with their grief.

most of all, i want to send a message that we have to honor our brothers today and not forget what has happened here and not let this happen again. we can't sweep this under the rug. need to treat this as a drug and alcohol eap problem. we need to do the right thing now and move this in and talk about this and recognize this mental illness and workers violence. we need today to move forward for changing this and for stopping this. we can do better than this! we are here. we will be here all week. we will be talking.

[ indiscernible ]

[ low volume ] people who do not understand what they are doing. that are innocent souls who love them and more intently who are dependent on them.

they are affecting all of the families related to them by some means. [ low volume ] >> reporter: -- we are honored to have two great leaders from our congressional delegation here today. [ low volume ] thank you so

much. >> my heart is very heavy. [ low volume ] come together to mourn. [ low volume ] our community. was shaken to its core. today, we give love and support for the families and while we are heartbroken and shaken, [ low volume ]. we need to

recommit an action to end the epidemic of -- in our country. america has more guns then there are people. you are 25 times more likely to be murdered than someone in another developed country. america, where on average, 300 people are shot every single day. america, where as of today, more than 17,500 people have been shot by a gun and joined yesterday by nine innocent people our colleagues, our relatives, our coworkers, our

neighbors, our fellow americans. tonight, we are united in our commitment to our diverse community where we prioritize togetherness over division, hope over fear, progress over violence. tonight, we cherish the memory of those lost and we comfort the families left to grieve, we have to say enough! we don't have to be the only country on earth where mass shootings are a near daily occurrence. we owe change to those we grieve for this evening. let's do it together. >> thank you. we are also joined by a

wonderful leader representing ourselves be. >> good afternoon everyone. first i want to thank the mayor for bringing all of us together. we need to be together. everyone's heart is broken. we are wallowing in grief. we are frustrated. we are angry. we can't sleep thinking about the families whose loved ones didn't come home from work. i am here to pay tributes to all of you like so many others i have watched and i have listened. the entire country has watched the people of san jose,

california and our region and i think they are in all of all of you. for the police that went in, for the firemen that were there, for the mental health workers, for the brothers and sisters of the vta family, government, of the private sector, for those who have stepped up with contributions to the family. you have showcased you goodness for america. i want you to know how proud i am to represent a community that is full of love and decency and knowing we are resilient people. we are resilient people. we will help the families come through this. we will do everything we can in this city and its people and its workers will continue to

show the way >> the loved ones we lost represent the diversity of the community and came from many different faiths as well. i am honored to have a bishop from the catholic diocese of san jose, bishop oscar cantu here as well. >> thank you for the invitation to be here. two years ago, when gilroy

happen, i mourned and i cried. yesterday, i mourned and i cried. we all have. the phrase that kept coming to me two years ago and comes back to me now that we are brothers and sisters to one another. we are each other's keepers. i don't care what color we are on the outside. we all cry tiers that are salty and we all bleed red. we are members of the same human family. no matter how we worship or if we don't worship, we have got human dignity. we need to respect and reach

out to one another. that beautiful phrase that the congresswoman shared with us, connection. that is what the vta does for us. it helps us to connect. we need to connect on a human level. on a level of compassion on a level of care and on a level of love. i don't write haiku's, that there was someone in our tradition who wrote beautiful, beautiful poetry. [ no audio ]

>> all right, sorry about that. we have lost the signal momentarily. this is provided by the city of san jose so these technical difficulties they have been wrestling with. with think maybe the audio is coming back so let's go back to the speakers. >> in front of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life. i will dwell in the house of the lord for endless days. our prayers are with all of the victims and loved ones. god bless.

>> dr. thank you for being here and sharing your thoughts with us. >> the message of peace is upon all of you from god who carries the name of peace. i before i give you the message of the muslim community i would like to share the message that god gave to mankind in his final book, the koran where he tells us --

this is the opener of the koran that summarizes the love of our creator to his creation. the love of the almighty that he has created equal as he tells us in the koran that we have created you from a male and a female and we have made you equals, the best among you are those closest to your lord and that is what we need to do to have the redemptions to ourselves. in the koran, it tells us about the sanctity of life. he tells us if you save a single human life, it is as if you have saved humanity as a whole. if you take a single human life, it is as if you have taken the life of humanity as a whole. our dear prophet was sitting down when a funeral passed by

and he rose and he told everybody around him to rise because it is a life that was lost and today, we are faced by so many lives that were lost. we are here to mourn. i would like to carry to you the condolences of the muslim community as we all come together to remember those beautiful lives that were taken for no good reason. there isn't a good reason to take an innocent human life. as we know, that has told us this through his prophet muhammad and his previous profits before that, jesus be upon him, moses peace be upon him, abraham peace be upon him and especially mary, the mother of jesus that god chose to be the best woman he had ever created. will come together to remember the sanctity of the human life. we have our hearts aching for

the families feeling of loss for each and every one of you. your losses our loss. your families are our families. why? because we all come from adam and eve. we are all a single-family. our condolences go to you. our hearts are aching for you. we ask god to give you the patient's -- the patient's -- the patient's to help you go through these hard times. peace be upon you. >> the county responded in an incredible way to this horrible tragedy. we saw dozens of behavioral health workers helping assist

families at the red cross ctr. of course, the county sheriff ran and immediately to help violence. we are grateful our county partners are here represented by supervisor cindy chavez who represents this area on the santa clara city council and is also a board member of the valley transportation authority. >> i am going to ask susan ellenberg and auto lead to come forward with me. i know and i can see it in the faces of so many of you how heartbreaking mrs. what a painful night this is for all of us. particularly, for the families and friends who lost a loved one yesterday. it is so easy to feel hopeless but i don't feel hopeless. do you? i don't feel hopeless. you know why i feel so much

hope? look at this family out here. look at san jose showing up. look at santa clara county showing up. look at vta showing up. one thing i can't forget, we are coming out of covid. we saw buses and light rail and mechanics making sure that vta kept moving. even tonight, if you look behind you on that street, you see buses moving and connecting people in our community. what that tells me is that we are strong enough to push back on violence, to push back on hate and to help each other heal. thank you and remember, we have got to show up not just tonight for each other but every day and every night.

thank you. >> i have one last thing i want to add. many of you have asked how can we help? one thing, we know people aren't going to heal overnight. both atu has a fund. it is called action network.org. if you want to contribute to the families you can do it there for you can go to act.wp u.s.a.org. that's help each other. let's not leave each other stranded. vta will does not stranded. >> quite aside from seeing and hearing from a diverse crowd not only speakers but seeing them crowded outside of san jose city hall. as you know, we have been bringing you live coverage of the vigil in san jose honoring the nine people killed at yesterday's vta shooting. you are taking a live look at

city hall where the mourners have gathered to grieve. >> tonight's vigil kicked off with a rendition of somewhere over the rainbow. >> [ music ] somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly [ music ] >> people are coming together tonight to honor nine's lives and their legacies. mayor sam liccardo read their names. he was joined by other elected officials, religious leaders and others in the community. they will light candles and wrap up the vigil by singing amazing grace. we want to review and look at the victims. we do continue streaming this vigil until is concludes at our website on abc7news.com and also you can find it on our apps for your devices and your

connected tvs. with that, our connected tv app you can also find all of our coverage of the vta shooting. all you have to do is search abc7 bay area where ever you stream pick that app is available for apple tv, android tv, amazon fire and broke you. that is it for this edition of abc7 news. abc7 news. >> for all of us, we sometimes they say, "it might work, it might not work." and so i ask myself the question, like, "why even get the vaccine, if it can also harm you?" for me, it's like taking a 50/50 chance. hi andrea. some say that the vaccine is harmful or that it might not work, but that's not true. millions of people have been vaccinated with no ill effects. and i can tell you that getting the vaccine is far safer than not getting it.

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