Hundreds pray for peace, victims of Charleston shooting

Hundreds came to Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs Friday night to pray for the victims of the Charleston, South Carolina church massacre.

The vigil was full of songs and prayer at the standing-room-only service.

“Those people are gone and they will not come back. But they did not die in vain, I don’t feel that they died in vein,” said parishioner Mary Branson.

Many in Charleston call Wednesday night’s shooting pure evil.

But beyond that evil, those at the Colorado Springs vigil see hope in how a community a thousand miles away, came together.

“He has defeated his purpose. That although he wanted to annihilate black people simply because they were black, but his purpose has been defeated,” Branson said.