Thousands Gather in Orlando for Somber Vigil

They held burning candles aloft in tearful silence as the single church bell tolled, the pauses between chimes just long enough to dull the anticipation of the next. For nearly five minutes the bell atop Orlando’s First United Methodist Church rang 49 times, the echoes reverberating across the plaza across from City Hall. Each represented one of the 49 lives lost early Sunday morning when a hate-filled gunman opened fire at the Pulse nightclub one mile away.