Community members sit silently for an hour to mourn gun violence victims

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Members of the Rochester community say they’re fed up with the violence and are calling for an end to all.

Community members gathered at Parcel Five in downtown Rochester on Monday for Shiva. They sat silently for an hour in honor of the lives lost.

Shiva is the Jewish custom of sitting in your home for seven days to mourn the loss of a family member. Usually, family and friends will visit the grieving person so no one mourns alone.

That’s a sentiment shared by the community as people sat together.

“Whether or not you think that gun violence affects you, it does,” said Monica Gebell, director of community relations of the Jewish Federation of Rochester. “We’re all people, and we all have sisters and brothers, sons, daughters, and parents. We are united, and we’re all Rochesterians. We’re here for each other.”

People held signs with the names of the victims of gun violence, many remembering loved ones lost to shootings in the city in the last year.