SAN LEANDRO (KCBS RADIO) – A local chapter of the non-profit "Brady United Against Gun Violence" held a candlelight vigil in San Leandro on Thursday to honor and remember the 19 students and 2 teachers killed in the Robb Elementary mass shooting earlier this week.
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As the sun set in front of San Leandro City Hall, flames flickered from candles held by the approximately 25 people who attended the vigil.
Each pair of small shoes, placed on the ground in neat rows, had a candle next to it. The flickering flames next to small colorful shoes represented the students killed at Robb Elementary.
A bell tolled as each of the 19 victims' names were read aloud.
"It's really really important that we talk about survivors and the pain that they're going to experience for the rest of their life," Mindy Finklestein told KCBS Radio. She organized the vigil and is a member of the regional chapter of Brady United Against Gun Violence.
Finklestein is the survivor of the mass shooting in 1999 when a white supremacist opened fired inside a Los Angeles Jewish Community Center, wounding five people, including Finklestein, before later murdering a mail carrier.
"I get beyond panic attacks every time there is a mass shooting. I don't want to have to explain that to my children at this stage in their life and it's been 23 years since I’ve been shot," Finklestein, who was 16 at time of the attack, said.
"Almost every single day for the last 23 years, I wake up and I relive the trauma that I experienced many years ago. I was shot twice in my leg," she explained. "I'm very lucky to be alive and I’ve been told by numerous parents of those kids who have not been lucky enough to survive over the last decade, that I represent their children and so I will never stop speaking out on their behalf."
Finklestein was passionate about what she believes our communities need,
and pleaded for Washington to act.
"A foundation is passing common sense gun legislation, specifically background checks," she said. "Background checks on all gun sales. 90% of Americans want this."
"Gun violence will still exist, but it's a start and it can save at least one life. Isn't that more than enough?" Finklestein added.
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