Colorado Springs man pays respects to Uvalde shooting victims

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., (KRDO) -- In Colorado Springs, one man is honoring the lives of the 19 children and two teachers who died after a gunman opened fire at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school.

Leon Wells built crosses and laid them all down across his front lawn, each with a victim's name.

"I woke up in the middle of the night, got up, I am in the hardwood business so I made them out of red oak and then I made two crosses and put them on the curb out there, and then I made two crosses for the teachers that were killed," said Wells.

Wells says his experience as a mortician helps him to understand the pain many of those parents are currently experiencing.

He says the thought of nineteen pairs of parents going through heartbreak made him take action to show his support.

"Parents have to be going through a major crisis. So I did that for them, mostly for people to understand that they need to be praying for these people and supporting them."

As he looks at the crosses on his lawn, he says he wants parents here to take this tragedy seriously.

"You know it is going on everywhere, it is not the end of this, this is an alert, I don't know how to say it, I have been around a long time, I am 69 years old…And what I went through over the time…I just can't imagine what is happening now."

Wells says people have been stopping by his house to share their respects, many leaving tears behind.