More than 100 students and community members gathered this weekend to mourn the deaths of three Muslim students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who were shot and killed last week. 

Pitt’s Muslim Student Association organized the vigil on the William Pitt Union lawn after learning of the shooting of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha at UNC. Mashal Wakilpoor, MSA’s president, said they organized the vigil independently, without any official directive by its national organization.

At 5:53 p.m., as the sun set and the street lights came on, those gathered, including many non-Muslim students, the members of the MSA and several older community members, stood in silence and lit candles in remembrance of the three late students who were killed earlier in the week in their Chapel Hill apartment.

The only suspect in the case, 46-year-old Craig Stephen Hicks, was charged with murder after he turned himself in to police Tuesday night. Hicks’ crime is being called a hate crime by several U.S. Muslim leaders and the families of the victims, according to the Associated Press. Hicks is currently being held in the Durham County Jail without bond.

Alaa Mohamed, an MSA member, opened the vigil by speaking to the crowd. She suppressed tears as she spoke. 

“Tonight, we let go of the anger that currently sits like a block inside of our chests,” she said. “Tonight, we let go of the fear that has invaded our minds as we realize that the only thing that separates our fate from theirs is the will of God.”

She urged the crowd to stand together and use each other for support as they grieved.

“As we let go of our grief, our pain, and our fear and our anger, we will instead grasp on to admiration of these young souls and the wonderful lives that they lived,” Mohamed said. “Take a look around you. Please, just take a look around you. This is your support system.”

Wakilpoor, a junior English writing and neuroscience major, said she was grateful for the support of the students and community members who attended, but was still saddened by the deaths of the three students.

“We forget sometimes that we have a community that supports us, that if we reach out, they’ll be here for us,” she said.

Though the crowd quickly disbanded after the vigil, many signed a banner that the MSA plans to send to UNC to show their solidarity with the victims. 

“It’s emotionally weird because I see the community support and that makes me so happy and I cry tears of joy, but then I remember the deaths and I cry from sadness,” Wakilpoor said.