Hundreds Seek Solace After a Murderous Rampage Kills Eight

A tall granite sculpture called “Triumph of the Human Spirit” stood behind them, rising from a fountain in Folger Square into the night sky.

Dozens of religious leaders and hundreds of peaceful demonstrators gathered in lower Manhattan for a candlelight vigil to pray for the victims of Tuesday’s terrorist attack and to call for unity and peace.

Reverend Jacqueline Lewis, from the Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village condemned the murderous rampage as the opposite of religion.

“This is not an act of Islam – this is an act of terrorism,” she said. “This is no more Muslim than the KKK is Christian.”

Speaking in English and Arabic, Hebrew and Hindi, they tried to offer words of solace.

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in Chelsea, said all traditions mandate 'loving one's neighbor as oneself.'

“We stand here in God’s name to remember those words of love and of commitment, each of us to each other,” she said.

A cellphone store-owner named Zaid Naji made the long trip from the Bronx to Lower Manhattan to stand and hold a flickering electronic candle. He wanted to be with his fellow Muslims, people of other faiths -- and attendees with no religion at all.

Naji said America's strength is its tolerance among peoples. He contrasted that with his native Yemen, and other parts of the Middle East, where violent conflict is all too common.

“We left countries where things like this are normal,” Naji said. “We are here to tell the world that this is what destroys communities.”

Nicholas Cleves. 23, was one of eight people killed on the Hudson River bike path, during the rampage by Sayfullo Saipov. Cleves' boyhood friend, Bahij Clancey, brought the photos to a candlelight vigil in Foley Square.

(Fred Mogul/WNYC)

 
Bahij Chancey was a life-long friend of one of the victims, Nicholas Cleves, and he brought a picture of Cleves to the vigil and set it down next to candles and flowers.

He said when they were young, their families often rented a house together on the north shore of Long Island, and the two boys explored the woods and beaches along the Long Island together.

More recently they talked technology and gadgets. Cleves was a software designer. Both young men were enthusiastic urban cyclists.

“He was a really, really sweet guy,” Chancey said. “He had a good sense of humor. He was a thinker - and was very curious.”

Chancey said he was still trying to wrap his mind around what had happened -- and wasn't sure when he'd get over the shock.