A day after a gunman walked into a Chico library and killed two people, a grieving community gathered at two separate vigils with candles, prayers and condolences.
At 7 p.m. June 23 nearly 100 people went to St. John’s Episcopal Church to pay respects with music and prayer. An hour later, people gathered at the Chico branch of the Butte County Library, where police allege 18-year-old Bradley Scott Sayer shot and killed two people: Robert Johnson, 74, of Orland, and Jacob Hull, 46, of Chico.
Richard Yale has lived in Chico for almost 30 years, with 25 of those being a reverend at St. John’s. He had stepped in for Rev. Tammy Smith-Fireston, who was away at a conference.
When Yale learned of the shooting, he reached out to other church leaders and helped set up the vigil. “We talked about how the congregations could come together and continue to support the community as we have through the years.”
He said the community needs to ask questions about isolation and gun availability. “But we need to never leave the human component behind,” Yale said. “We are all one or two degrees away from somebody who was directly affected by this tragedy.”
As people held their loved ones, speakers at both vigils spoke about the community’s strength and unity in difficult times. Yale noted while everyone was affected by the tragedy, the pain was felt closer to home for some.
Julianne Folger, who attended the vigil at the library, said she’s known the Sayer family for about 20 years, but hasn’t been in contact with them for some time.
“All of us are in shock because we had birthdays with him, pool parties and all types of stuff,” she said. “When the kids were little they all hung out.”
Some of the first responders also came to the vigil, and among them was police Chief Billy Aldridge. Historically, he has seen the community “step up” and “show support for everyone.” He said this was something he saw again at the vigil.
Police lieutenants Mike Rodden and Jeff Durkin, who arrived at the scene following Sayer’s arrest, went to both vigils.
“We never want this type of violence in the community,” Rodden said. “We’re sad to see it happen here. It’s frustrating. It’s senseless.”
Rodden and Durkin have both lived in Chico for more than 30 years. They said seeing the community come together reminded them of other moments such as the Camp Fire and the Oroville spillway failure.
St. John’s was always a place for those to gather after a tragedy, Yale said. He noted that it was a “hub after the Camp Fire” and a shelter during the spillway failure.
As the night crept on during the second vigil, candles were distributed to people at the library and attendees shared sentiments of a community’s strength.
Throughout the day, people had come to the library to pay respects; by noon there were flowers and notes by the door.
But fear still hung in the air. Abel Chavez lives in Live Oak, but is a member of St. John’s congregation.
“When I first learned about it, it was shocking,” he said. “Knowing the fact that we could have gun violence occur in a public space like a library, and immediately my first thought was how gun violence is escalating to the point where it’s just happening anywhere.”
He called for unification and setting aside politics that has plagued discourse around shootings in the past.
State Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), who is running against Rep. James Gallagher for Congress, also came to honor the victims. He has a 5-year-old daughter, and said when the news reached his desk, he thought of her.
“I felt nauseous,” he told ChicoSol. “I felt sick to my stomach. This is literally a parent’s worst nightmare. This is a community’s worst nightmare.”
He said he was worried about the country becoming “numb” to these tragedies, but he didn’t see that reflected in Chico, saying the community was “so incredibly special.”
“It’s time for us to be engaged in common grief,” Yale told ChicoSol. “Our hearts have been broken together.”
Chris Hutton is a contributor to ChicoSol.