News

Service set to remember Uvalde victims

By Bill Moss, Published: May 19, 2023

An interfaith service at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, at First United Methodist Church will mark the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting of students and teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

In one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, 19 children and two teachers were killed, and 17 wounded.

“We don’t want the world to forget our kids and their beautiful souls,” said Gloria Cazares, the mother of 9-year-old Jacklyn.

The Remember Uvalde service was organized by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense-Hendersonville, True Ridge, an advocate for the Hispanic community of Henderson County, and First United Methodist Church. Speakers will include Karen Easter Payne, lead pastor of First Methodist; the Rev. Dr. Alfredo M Oviedo, assistant to the Bishop, North Carolina Lutheran Synod; Melisa Soto-Escobar, executive director of True Ridge; the Rev. Claudia Jiménez, minister of faith development, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville; and John Owens, local leader of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense. Parking for the event will be available in the Methodist Church lot on Buncombe Avenue between Fifth and Sixth avenues.

Since the tragic event at Robb Elementary School a year ago, there have been more than 40 school shootings, including the recent tragedy at the Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville, Tennessee, in March. The Gun Violence Archive reports that there have been more than 200 mass shootings (four or more people killed or injured) and nearly 7,000 gun violence deaths in 2023. One of the most recent mass shootings took place in an outlet mall outside of Dallas where eight people were killed and seven injured by an assailant carrying an AR-15 style weapon.