LOCKPORT, N.Y. — Less than 24 hours after Cheyenne Farewell of Medina was shot and killed at a Halloween party in Lockport, her friends, neighbors, classmates, and religious leaders gathered together outside of Refuge of Christ Temple to grieve and to demand justice.
Pastor Mark Sanders spoke to members of the Lockport community sternly, but "with love in his heart," calling on everyone to do their part to get the community back and out of the hands of violence.
"They were kids," Sanders said. "They were young people, they weren't bad kids."
The vigil was held in the church's parking lot to honor Cheyenne and the five other young people who police reported were shot just after midnight on Saturday morning. Those that were shot were taken to the hospital, no update to their status has been given at this time. However, Sunday night the father of one of those victim's spoke out, through his tears pleading to the community to speak up and to put a stop to the violence.
"My daughter was in surgery for seven hours last night, this has got to stop," he said. "If anybody knows anything...forget all the codes, forget all the bull crap, come forward please."
Nearly one hundred members of the Lockport community attended the 5 p.m. vigil, some even with flowers.
Paula Halladay is a member of the Lockport Peacemakers and says there is serious concern about the level of violence people are seeing in the city's streets.
"This is scaring a lot of parents, for their kids," Halladay said. "We don't want them to leave the house, so to speak, even though we know it's about mental stability and intermingling with your friends - it's also about safety."
As of now, Lockport Police have not released any new information on the status of their investigation nor any updates on the status of the victims who have been hospitalized.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Batavia Downs in support of Cheyenne and to help her family. The goal was $20,000 but as of Sunday night $24,537 has been raised.
