Lantern ceremony honors 1 October victims and survivors

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Survivors and victims impacted from 1 October get to express all the feelings they continue to feel by customizing lanterns and reflecting five years later.

The Vegas Strong Resiliency Center held a virtual lantern ceremony where people impacted by the 1 October shooting could pre-register for a free kit to create a lantern.

Fuente de Vida Mental Health Services, a bilingual organization, hosted an in-person lantern ceremony at United Way.

Fuente de Vida and Make the Road to Nevada were two organizations that immediately helped victims families and survivors that were undocumented, immigrant and only spoke Spanish.

Leo Murrieta is the executive director for Make the Road Nevada.

“These folks had the same bracelets on that every other survivor had on- but they were rejected and turned away,” Murrieta said.

The organizations provided help to the people that needed it the most and because of that there is a deep sense of community.

“The beauty of being able to help our community is that in their time of need we can be there for them and folks don’t forget that,” Murrieta said.

Angelica Sirvantes is the mother to one of the 58 victims, Erik Silva. The 21-year-old security guard is credited with saving the lives of seven others that night.

“I feel very excited but at the same time I feel very sad because we’re missing those angels from that night,” Sirvantes said.

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