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1 year after Isla Vista shooting, students, parents and community to hold candlelight vigil
Two students comfort each other May 24, 2014 during a candlelight vigil held to honor the victims the mass shooting on in Isla Vista. A candlelight vigil, procession and memorial will begin at Storke Park Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
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Jae C. Hong/AP
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Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic killings in the Santa Barbara community of Isla Vista.
A candlelight vigil will be held at People's Park in Isla Vista to honor the victims of Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old man who went on a rampage last May, fatally stabbing and shooting six University of California, Santa Barbara students before turning a gun on himself.
At 7:30 p.m., students, community members and parents of the victims will lead a procession from Storke Plaza to People's park, where folks will be able to share their thoughts and memories of the victims, said Benjamin Simons, commissioner with the UCSB Associated Students program board.
Posted by Associated Students - UCSB on Thursday, May 21, 2015
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Several on-campus groups and outside organizations have combined resources for the memorial, an event Simons hoped would come together "organically ... for students, by students."
"Last year, the candlelit vigil that we had that was organically created through the community was, again, in my opinion, the most powerful and impactful that we've had," Simons told KPCC.
"When we had the official memorial that was televised to the world, that was unempathetic. It was so hard to sit through, and that was something that was not organized by the community, for the community."
He said this year, the university has allowed the students and community to organize the vigil, while helping with some logistics.
Kelly Wang is one of the parents scheduled to speak at the vigil Saturday night. She wrote that it broke her heart to think of her deceased son George Chen, according to the LA Times. Chen was the friend of Rodger's roommates who were also killed in the attacks.
"My sweet boy is gone forever, without a sign or warning, without having a chance to say goodbye," she wrote.
The other two stabbing victims were Rodger's roommates Cheng Hong and Weihan Wang.
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Richard Martinez, father of Christopher Michaels-Martinez, told The Associated Press this week he thinks about his son every day. Christopher was one of the victims who was shot by Rodger, along with Veronika Weiss and Katherine Cooper.
In the year since Christopher's life was cut short, Martinez has become a vocal gun control advocate, traveling around the country trying to engage elected officials about the issue of gun laws.
"I'm not anti-gun," he told AP. "I'm anti-gun violence."
When authorities searched Rodger's apartment, they found a sizable collection of guns and ammunition, weapons he obtained legally.
"The kid that killed my son should never have had a gun, and we have to figure out a way so that these things don't happen again," Martinez told AP.
Martinez is expected to attend Saturday's memorial, one of several this month.
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