“Our greatest grief comes from our greatest joy, which is our children,” Gov. Jay Inslee told mourners at a vigil Sunday evening in Mukilteo.
Eight-hundred people quietly prayed, sobbed and hugged Sunday evening outside a Mukilteo church as they honored the state’s latest victims of gun violence.
“Our greatest grief comes from [losing] our greatest joy, which is our children,” Gov. Jay Inslee told the crowd at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Inslee reassured the mourners that “seven million Washingtonians are with you tonight … I woke up in Vancouver, Washington, this morning, I went to Goldendale, to Yakima, to Ellensburg. Everywhere I went, people were thinking of the people in Mukilteo and their families.”
He also gave more details about the weapon used to kill three young adults and wound a fourth at a house party early Saturday, saying that an “assault-type of weapon” was found on the passenger seat of the suspect’s car. Later, he said troopers told him the rifle had a 30-round capacity.
“Passivity in the face of gun violence is unacceptable,” he said.
The church where mourners gathered is next to Kamiak High School, where the victims had been classmates.
Killed were Anna Bui, Jordan Ebner and Jake Long. All three were 19 years old.
A fourth victim, Will Kramer, 18, was wounded and in serious condition Sunday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Another Kamiak graduate, Allen Christopher Ivanov, 19, has been arrested in connection with the slayings.
There were no speeches by relatives of the victims during Sunday’s vigil. After Inslee spoke, two Christian and one Muslim clergy members prayed. Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson, a 1996 Kamiak High alum, emceed.
Many in the crowd wore Kamiak purple or sports jerseys, while the trees and streetlights were decorated in purple bows and balloons. Mourners held hands during one of the prayers, and a few let out cries of anguish.
Ken Long, of Northshore Christian Church, said a prayer in which he asked: “When we see signals or signs or struggles or troubles, that God, we will move closer, and not turn away from that.”
Later, he mentioned a social-media post purportedly written by the suspect showing a photo of an assault-style rifle. He said he has led prayers for many suicide victims who let out clues beforehand.
This weekend, “we had one student who was lamenting over the fact — some of the tweets and things that came through — ‘I should have done something.’ Our normal inclination is to think the best, and not do anything immediately,” Long said.
After the vigil, mourners hung around the church parking lot and snacked on donated pizza. A poster was circulated for messages to cheer the wounded Kramer.
By Thursday, a carecalendar.org page will be posted online to provide a means to donate to victims’ families, said Gregerson.