Toronto holds candlelight vigil to honour Orlando shooting victims

TORONTO — A Toronto community group held a candlelight vigil Sunday night in a show of solidarity with the victims of the Orlando, Florida mass shooting.

The vigil began at 8 p.m. at Barbara Hall Park in the heart of Toronto’s LGBTQ community.

READ MORE: Orlando shooting: LGBTQ community reacts after victims ‘had their futures stolen’

Brock Hayhoe, a Toronto drag artist who performed at Pulse Nightclub before on several occasions, said it didn’t seem real to him when he first heard about the shooting.

“Hearing something like this just breaks my heart for everybody there and just any gay person around the country. . . . I’m not an emotional person usually, but I’ve just been crying all morning,” he said.

Hayhoe said he has friends who were working at the nightclub when the shooting began. Thankfully, he said, they all managed to escape by crawling through an air conditioning vent in the dressing room.

Since news broke about the shooting, posts and tweets of solidarity have flooded social media.

Mayor John Tory tweeted his thoughts and prayers to members of the global LGBTQ community.

Tory also released a statement condemning the violence in America.

“We condemn the ongoing resistance to gun regulations in the US that could help prevent these mass killings, which have taken the lives of little children at school, women at the doctors office, couples at the movies, elderly parishioners at their church,” he wrote.

“And we rededicate ourselves to making sure Toronto is a beacon of acceptance and equality to the world.”

The mayor had also announced the Toronto sign at city hall to be lit in rainbow colours to honour the victims.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also took to Twitter, saying she was “shocked and heartbroken.”

Hayhoe said the outpouring of love makes him wish there was this kind of support all the time, especially during Pride season.

The shooting comes 12 days into Canada’s first ever Pride Month, which ends with the annual Pride Parade on July 3.

READ MORE: Orlando shooting: Omar Mateen identified as shooter

Fifty people were killed in the shooting at a gay nightclub called Pulse Nightclub in Orlando at 2 a.m. Sunday.

The gunman, identified as Omar S. Mateen, exchanged gunfire with police before entering the club and taking hostages.

Mateen was later killed when the SWAT team entered to rescue the hostages.

– With files from Erica Vella