Public invited to Candlelight vigil to be held at the Uvalde Memorial Park Amphitheatre on the evening of May 24th
On Friday, May 12th at 5:38 PM the public relations firm, the Eisenberg Group released a statement signed by City and County elected officials as well as Uvalde CISD Superintendent Gary Patterson asking for privacy ten days before the May 24th one year anniversary of the Robb School Tragedy. See story here.
As part of the statement which was emailed to media outlets including the Uvalde Hesperian, the statement reads: “As a community, we respectfully request to be given the time, space, and privacy to remember those we lost, along with those who survived the mass shooting on May 24th. It is essential to the healing process for our community, and most importantly for our children to be given this time to grieve together privately.”
The Uvalde Hesperian reached out to Mayor McLaughlin with questions about the statement, and McLaughlin responded via phone this morning, Tuesday, May 16th.
McLaughlin said the statement was initiated by the Uvalde Together Resiliency Center. He said that both the Center and the City of Uvalde had been communicating with family members of the victims of the Robb Elementary Tragedy and it was understood that the family members wanted privacy on the day of May 24th. The Mayor said that a flier had been sent out inviting everyone to a candlelight vigil at the Uvalde Memorial Park Amphitheatre on the evening of May 24th. According to the Mayor,the desires of the family members who asked for privacy may have changed since the signed statement was sent out last Friday.
The signed statement released by the Eisenberg Group has been interpreted to mean outsiders should stay away from Uvalde during the anniversary time period.
However, according to a flier by Lives Robbed, it reads, ” Families of those we lost on May 24th, 2022 invite visitors from all over the world to join us for a candlelight vigil at 7:30PM on Ma7 24th, 2023.”
