Community prayer vigil to help youth after recent killings

Three young people die by gunfire over past week in FCity, SFCounty

A community prayer vigil is being planned for Wednesday on the back parking lot at the Forrest City Civic Center.

The vigil will begin at 4:30 p.m.

"The recent events have really shaken our community to the core," said Forrest City Mayor Cedric Williams. "We've had pretty traumatic events, especially with the loss of life of one of our young people."

Williams said there would be an emphasis on prayer for the community’s youth during the vigil as well as onsite counseling services.

"The tragic events that have hit our community over the past couple of weeks, even though some were outside of our city limits, still envelops our entire community," said Williams.

Williams said several residents and entities had reached out to the city and through Pastor Rayfield Walker asking for a prayer vigil to be held.

"We will have several ministers in the area offering prayer," said Walker.

“Rev. Walker visited with the Ministerial Alliance and they decided an outside venue would be conducive for the event," said Williams.

The back Civic Center parking lot was chosen to allow those participating to set up equipment and stages much like what has previously been done for community prayer gatherings.

"We also wanted to have it around 4:30 p.m., so that residents can worship at their own services," Williams said of the Wednesday vigil.

Williams said counseling services have also reached out to the city to offer assistance.

“That also gives us the opportunity where professional counseling services will be offered on the inside of the Civic Center," said Williams. "It is traumatic to the mental state of our community and especially our young people, so we wanted to provide that mental counseling also.

"It makes our community special because when these traumatic events happen, we really come together as a city and as a community, stand on our faith, support each other and get through it," said Williams.

Williams said the vigil should conclude before dark and feature speakers such as FC Police Chief Ronald Broussard, who will talk about the importance of community and healing after traumatic events.

"One thing we continue to recognize is our God is still sovereign and he is still in control," said Walker. "The Lord will grant us healing in our time

(Continued from Page 1) of grief, that He will give us direction in our part to do healing in our community."

"Adversity makes you stronger, and that is one of the things about Forrest City," said Williams. "We are dealing with this adversity, we are coming together to get through it, we push through it and we are stronger when we come through on the other side."

Over the past week, five people have been killed by gunfire.

Two teenagers, ages 17 and 19, were shot and killed on Monday, Nov. 21, in Forrest City.

Early Monday, three people, including two adults and a 12year-old girl, were found shot to death inside their Crow Creek residence.