A group gathered in Marion County Wednesday for a prayer vigil -- the start of a movement to put an end to the string of violence in the Ocala area.
“Well, I feel like we live in a fairly safe neighborhood in town," said Dan Livingston, who brought his young son with him Wednesday. "But, I want him to see that it’s not like that everywhere and understand that we need to be praying for people and we need to be supporting people.”
Livingston and his son Tyler were among the crowd who filled the town square as messages and prayers were heard from different faiths. The goal was to give courage for those who know criminals to come forward, and also to put some pressure on them. Two separate cases where children were shot proved to be the tipping point for this community.
“There was one a little over a month ago up on the north end of our town," said Ocala Police Chief Greg Graham. "The kid’s asleep. Shots are fired in the house and he’s shot in the foot. The other incident occurred a couple of weeks ago on the west side of Ocala. Two children were laying on a mattress in their living room. A car drives by, shoots at the house and hits both the kids.”
Chief Graham said he reached out to the NAACP for help and called a meeting with the faith-based community. That led to this prayer vigil to end the violence. However, not everyone was in accord with the religious aspect of it.
“Anything other than a prayer vigil," said Jean Porgal with Ocala Atheists. "That’s where we feel it steps over a separation of church and state and that’s our only disagreement.”
Porgal said they’re all about ending the violence. they just don’t think a community prayer is the way to do it. Religious leaders, however, say prayer is important to bring the community together.
“Once you have kids, you realize how much you love them and you see somebody that loses theirs," Livingston said. "It’s…you can’t help but get choked up thinking about what they’re going through…losing a child.”
No matter the religious outlook, Chief Graham said this isn’t a police problem, it’s a community problem and the next step is to organize walks and carry signs throughout these affected communities.