HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – It was business as usual Sunday morning at the Holyoke Mall with extra security details from Holyoke Police. The move comes following a deadly shooting Saturday night.
Saturday night’s tragedy was on the minds of shoppers on Sunday.
“Yeah we were talking about it on the way here. I thought ‘Oh, I don’t know if I want to go because of what happened yesterday’ but we did anyway. Like other people are saying you can’t just hide home and we have some shopping we need to do,” said shopper Kearstyn King.
King added they come to this mall all the time and actually were planning on coming Saturday night right around the time of the shooting with her daughter. They pushed the trip to Sunday and left her at home.
22News spoke to a number of shoppers Sunday who told us they were aware of the tragedy that happened at the mall Saturday night but it didn’t deter them from enjoying a typical day at the mall.
One man told 22News the obvious tragedy was exactly what brought him to the mall Sunday with a message of hope in his heart.
“In reality, as time passes by you can see there’s more conflict just building up. However, the sense of humanity is decreasing a lot,” said Jose Valderrama. “We’re just going inside to give a message of hope. I can’t just stay hiding inside I have to let others know.”
Jose and a friend representing their church on a mission to help people overcome.