Mourners came to remember the dead.
Instead, they ran for their lives.
Outside a Salt Lake City Latter-day Saint meetinghouse, a burst of gunfire shattered hymns and sobs,
leaving bodies on the pavement and faith on the brink.
What was meant to be a sacred farewell became a nightmare the Tongan community will carry for years.
Families who had gathered to honor a life were suddenly forced to shield children, press trembling hands against wounds, and call out names that went unanswered.
In the chaos, cell phones recorded fragments of horror: overturned chairs, blood on Sunday clothes, a chapel door left swinging open.
In the days that followed, grief settled over the neighborhood like a heavy fog.
Church leaders opened their doors for vigils, prayers, and quiet sobbing in the pews.
Investigators combed through bullet casings and broken glass, while loved ones searched for meaning in the unthinkable.
The meetinghouse, once a refuge of comfort, now holds a double weight:
the memory of those lost, and the fragile hope that forgiveness and healing might one day speak louder than the gunfire that silenced the day.