Boston Honors Victims of Church Massacre

There were earnest prayers coming from parishioners at Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston.

They're crying out for safety after a Dylann Storm Roof entered Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and shot and killed nine people during their weekly bible study service.

"For someone to come in and invade and violent that holy space is unbelievable beyond measure," Rev. Gregory Groover, pastor of the Charles Street AME, said.

Thursday night, a crowd of people filled Boston's Bethel AME. Those in attendance prayed for the lives that were lost.

"We certainly want to pray for the families of the victims," said co-pastor Gloria White-Hammond. "We also want to pray for the families of that entire congregation, and we want to pray for the family of the perpetrator."

Outside the church, police stood watch - a comfort to those inside.

"In times of triumph, and when you're really struggling, you run to the sanctuary, you run to the altar, and now it's a place that's dangerous," said Jacobi Cunningham.

Rev. Groover had been conducting a prayer service Wednesday night. He says he got home and turned on the TV, only to find out his friend, Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, was killed in the shooting.

"This perpetrator, this man who killed them got up and told them why. Essentially because you're black and so I'm going to take your lives in the holiest of places in the house of worship. That's not supposed to happen in 2015 in the United States of America," he said.

Even after seeing the tragedy in Charleston, Bethel AME co-pastor Ray Hammond says he will not change how he conducts any of his church services.

"You can't let one person who is deranged and hateful change one of the strengths of the community. We just recognize there are those risks but those are the risks you have to be willing to take," Pastor Wiliam Dickerson of the Greater Love Tabernacle said. 

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