Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Community remembers library shooting victims

CLOVIS — Howard Jones said it well, and said it succinctly: It hurts.

The surgeries and the residual health issues after being shot last year, the stress for his family, the emotional pain: it all hurts, Jones said Tuesday after a short observance for the first anniversary of last summer's deadly shooting at the Clovis-Carver Public Library.

"I didn't sleep at all last (Monday) night because I was at the courts on the hearing (Monday), and it just brought back more memories," he said. He was referencing the latest court appearance for the teenager charged with killing two and injuring four. "And today, just, you know. ... It hurts."

Many shared in that sentiment during the morning gathering on the library's south lawn. Among a crowd some 75-strong were citizens, prosecutors, library staff and patrons, first responders and other city employees and officials, all sharing a moment of silence as some cried silently and others held each other for support.

Brenda Gilliam was in the library with her daughter and her friend Sylvia Galvan when police say Nathaniel Jouett, then 16, opened fire there late in the afternoon of Aug. 28, 2017. Gilliam said the past year has been "up and down still," and the occasion this week was "heartbreaking."

The observance itself lasted less than 10 minutes, led by Clovis Mayor David Lansford followed by a prayer from Bethlehem Baptist Church Pastor Delmus Gillis.

Lansford spoke to the "full spectrum of emotions" facing Clovisites in wake of the event, while urging all to face those issues "the right way ... with kindness, goodness and love."

Gillis read the names of those injured: Jones, former circulation assistant Jessica Thron and brother-sister patrons Alexis and Noah Molina, all of whom have been released from hospitals, but are still recovering from the shooting.

"Put your arms around this community," he said in the prayer.

Following the observance, Library Director Margaret Hinchee encouraged attendees to enter the library and view the recently completed paintings of children's librarian Krissie Carter and circulation assistant Wanda Walters, killed during the attack and now immortalized in the community's mind.

 
 

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