Hopatcong Holds Moment of Silence For CT Shooting Victims

Hopatcong officials will hold a moment of silence on Friday to honor the 26 students and teachers killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Mayor Sylvia Petillo said Wednesday the borough also turned off the lights in its holiday decorations in their honor.

She said Connecticut Gov. Daniel Malloy has called for a nationwide moment of silence at 9:30 a.m. Friday to honor the victims of the mass shooting that took place last Friday.

Petillo also asked during Wednesday’s meeting for a  moment of silence before the flag salute.

She opened the meeting with a short statement: “On Dec. 14, the unthinkable happened in a small bedroom community in Newtown, Conn. A gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School  and killed 20 students and six adults before taking his own life. This massacre left our nation brokenhearted as we tried to make sense out of this horrific tragedy.”

“The problem is we can’t understand this type of evil ….  An evil that targets the innocent and unmercifully shatters the lives, the hopes and the dreams of their families. Gov. Daniel Malloy  was right  when he said that ‘evil visited their community that day.’ “

“But we can’t allow evil to win. The only way to conquer evil is with God’s love.  Nothing else has the strength to overcome grief, restore hope and heal the heartbroken. So tonight as we have a moment of silence let’s  turn our thoughts toward the families in Newtown and offer our love and our prayers  May they be comforted in their time of grief.”