Prayer service brings healing, call to action after Waterbury mall shooting

As Waterbury continues to process the Brass Mill Center shooting, some community members gathered at a local church to provide healing and a call to for action to end the violence.

“It was disheartening and so the community is hurting,” Pastor Kristopher Reese of Grace Baptist Church said.

A pain pastor he heard so much after getting several calls about Tuesday’s shooting that left five people hurt at the Brass Mill Center in Waterbury. It’s a place that hits close to home.

“Pretty much said 'listen, we need to do something today. Not tomorrow. Not next week.' Our response has to be today,” Reese said.

That came in the form of a prayer service at Grace Baptist Church where a sense of community was hammered home, especially to the young generation in Waterbury.

Both the victims and the shooter were either teenagers or in their 20s.

“Without that sense of community, it just seems like despair and that’s where you get apathy. That’s when you can have a shooting and it’s like ‘Yeah, it’s Waterbury,’” D.M. Livingston of Waterbury said.

He said hearing the shooting happened because of a dispute was frustrating.

“You’re going to be older than way longer than you’re going to be younger, so these problems that are existing in your life, just give it time,” Livingston said.

People in the church say there needs to be more outreach to young people in Waterbury to give them a sense of hope and opportunity.

They also donated money to the victim’s families. Three of them are now out of the hospital.

“The most seriously injured was a young lady who was hit in the in the spine,” Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski said during a morning press conference. “She's going to be doing some rehab so hopefully she will not find herself paralyzed.”

The money will be split equally to help with their recoveries. Meantime, Reese said he wants to reach out the arrested teen to try to provide guidance.

“What we do has an impact on our children,” he said.