He builds crosses for victims of mass shooting, but Aurora's attack hit home

[ad_1]

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = ""I can not stop myself from crying": he built crosses for victims of mass shootings, but Aurora's attack hit his country originally appeared on abcnews.go.com"data-reactid =" 22 ">"I can not stop myself from crying": he built crosses for victims of mass shootings, but the Aurora attack was reported originally on abcnews. go.com

Greg Zanis' work can be seen across the country. When a mass shooting takes place in the United States, he heads to the affected city with an individualized cross assembled for each victim.

But now, with a mass shot in Aurora, Illinois, Zanis builds crosses for his own community.

"They want us to remember their family member"

The cross construction began when Zanis' father-in-law was killed in Aurora in 1996, he said.

"I had the privilege of bringing in the prayer coalition and helping me overcome my grief," Zanis, 68, told ABC News on Monday. "A few months later, a six-year-old boy was killed in Aurora … and his mother asked if I would make a cross for his son."

It was then that Zanis, a master carpenter, offered to make crosses for everyone and deliver them for free. It also makes symbols of other religions.

PHOTO: Carpenter Greg Zanis places his crosses in front of the first Baptist church, which was the scene of mass shooting that killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 8, 2017. (Mark Ralston / AFP / Getty Images)

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Among Zanis' first projects, let us quote him Columbine High School in Colorado, where 12 students and one teacher were killed in 1999. "data-reactid =" 40 "> Zanis' first projects include filming at Colorado's Columbine High School, where 12 students and one teacher were killed in 1999.

Zanis retired in 2016 and later, travel became more frequent.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Last year, it was a good time is gone to Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and staff were slaughtered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. "data-reactid =" 42 "> Last year, he went to Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and staff members were shot dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School February 14, 2018.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "(MORE: Shot at the park 1 year later: in memory of the 17 victims of the massacre at the school) "data-reactid =" 43 "> (PLUS: shooting at Parkland a year later: in memory of the 17 victims of the massacre at the ;school)

<p class = "canvas-atom text-canvas Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Then there was Santa Fe High School in Texas, where 10 people were killed in May 2018. "data-reactid =" 44 "> Then there was Santa Fe High School in Texas, where 10 people were killed in May 2018.

PHOTO: People carry crosses made by Greg Zanis for the victims of Santa Fe High School on May 21, 2018, in Santa Fe, Texas. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images)

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "He went to Las Vegas Bring new crosses a year after the mass shooting of October 2017, which claimed the lives of 58 people. "data-reactid =" 56 "> He went to Las Vegas to bring new crosses a year after the shooting in October 2017, which killed 58 people.

(SUITE: Las Vegas massacre: portraits of 58 victims)

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "And also in October 2018, he went to the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 faithful, including a 97-year-old woman, were shot dead. "data-reactid =" 58 "> And also in October 2018, he went to the synagogue of the Tree of Life in Pittsburgh, where 11 faithful, including a 97 woman, was shot.

"It was the first time I only made Jewish stars instead of crosses," Zanis said.

PHOTO: A woman reacts in front of an improvised memorial in front of the Tree of Life synagogue after shooting Saturday at the Pittsburgh synagogue on October 29, 2018. (Cathal McNaughton / Reuters)

(PLUS: shooting in the Pittsburgh synagogue: portraits of the 11 victims)

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The month following the firing of the Pittsburgh Synagogue , Zanis headed to Thousand Oaks, California, where 12 people were shot dead at the Bar limit & amp; Grill."data-reactid =" 72 "> The month following the shooting at the Pittsburgh Synagogue, Zanis went to Thousand Oaks, California, where 12 people were shot dead at the Borderline Bar & Grill.

At Thousand Oaks, he installed the 12 crosses at 2 am, he said, to stay under the radar.

"These family members want them to remember their member," said Zanis. "It's not about me."

PHOTO: A passerby stops to look over a memorial to Borderline Borderline soldiers at Thousand Oaks, California, November 27, 2018. (Amanda Lee Myers / AP)

(PLUS: Thousand Oaks shooting victims: heartbreaking stories about 12 lives lost)

& # 39; Aurora is my city & # 39;

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "But this anonymity changed Friday, when five employees were killed during a mass shootout at the Henry Pratt manufacturing plant in Aurora, Illinois, because for Zanis, "Aurora is my city" "" data-reactid = "88"> But this anonymity changed Friday, when five employees were killed in a mass shooting at the Henry Pratt manufacturing plant in Aurora, Illinois because for Zanis, "Aurora is my city".

Zanis moved to Aurora, where his wife was from in the 1970s, and raised five children in town.

(PLUS: what we know about the victims of the Aurora shootings)

By the time the shots exploded, Zanis was working in his garage, on the same street as the Aurora Police Station.

PHOTO: Illinois police respond to calls from an active shooter in Aurora. (Megan Jones / Beacon News / TNS via Newscom)

"A dozen team cars have passed … and every 30 seconds, another car, another car," he said.

Zanis said that his daughter had entered the garage and told him that there was an active shooter in Aurora.

"It's the last thing I wanted, to make it happen so close to home," he says, crackled voice.

(PLUS: a suspect shooting at Aurora opened fire during the closing meeting)

Zanis said that he had put five crosses early Saturday morning. Once the identities of the victims were disclosed, he indicated that he had replaced the crosses with new crosses bearing the name of each person.

PHOTO: People in mourning lay a flower on the crosses in front of the Henry Pratt Society in Aurora, IL, on February 17, 2019, in memory of the five employees killed on Friday. (Jeff Knox / Daily Herald via AP)

Zanis' role as crossbuilder makes him a natural support system – he has met up to now four families of the five victims – but this large-scale shootout is certainly different for him.

"I do not have the luxury of going home from somewhere else," he said. "I will not be able to get away from that."

PHOTO: Greg Zanis of Aurora, Ill., Wears two of the twelve crosses he made to commemorate the victims of mass shooting at Century 16 on July 22, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

"I can advise people," he said, "but I think I will need some advice."

"It should not happen on our land here," he said. "I just can not stop crying."

[ad_2]

Source link