Madi Chodikov awoke Saturday morning to messages in her family’s group text about the violence at a Pittsburgh synagogue they’d attended together.
The University of Colorado sophomore grew up in Moon Township, in the Pittsburgh metro area, and her family had attended services at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood when they could spare time for the commute across the city. And although her parents worried about her safety, on Tuesday she joined a community vigil on campus.
Chodikov stood before the dozens who gathered outside the University Memorial Center, and she read the names of the 11 people slain at the Pittsburgh synagogue by a man who was reportedly armed with four guns and shouted anti-Semitic slurs as he opened fire on their Shabbat services.
“I’ve always had this worry ingrained in my head,” Chodikov said in an interview after the vigil. “… It’s just unfortunate because Squirrel Hill was the one area I felt safe in going and being part of my religion.”
At Tuesday’s vigil, faith and campus leaders at came together with students in prayer and solidarity, as well as to honor the victims and survivors of the shooting. The vigil followed two in the area on Sunday, one in Boulder that drew a crowd of hundreds and another in Denver that drew a crowd of thousands.
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