CORYDON, Ind. — From the flag raised in his honor to the candles lit in his name, the vigil for 18-year-old Bryce Gerlach is one nobody could've imagined when he left Corydon for New Albany's Harvest Homecoming on Saturday night.
It's left his hometown praying for strength from above.
"The courage to stand beside each other, as a community," pastor Tyler Sansom pleaded.
That's how the organizers hope they get through this—hand-in-hand.
"It's hard to wrap our heads around it," Heather Best said, "and we don't know what to do and we don't know what the answer is, but we hope everybody keeps showing up for the family like they are right now."
And show they did — hundreds of flames flickering by Gerlach's family home on the way to the football field he played on the night before random gunfire took his life.
The moment came as a surprise to New Albany's police chief.
We will normally get through these events without so much as arresting anybody," Chief Todd Bailey said of the event that's run for 57 years.
Two more people took bullets in that shooting — a man, 22, and a woman, 42. Police say they do have suspects in mind for the shooting that happened near festival rides, but they haven't made any arrests yet.
Parked outside of Jack's bar in New Albany, Island Noodles raised money for Gerlach's family, selling noodles all day as Harvest Homecoming organizers cancelled the festival's final day.
"We're a big community, but we're also a small community at the same time," Lindsay Johnson said, operator of the booth. "So, we've got a good thing going here. I don't think we're the only ones to do this. I saw pop-ups all over just coming together and loving one another."
That choice was just as obvious for customers.
"I mean, I think that's just what you do in a time of need," Stephanie Timberlake said, who came from the down the road in her pajamas the moment she heard about the opportunity.
Gerlach drew admiration at home, even the next generation of Corydon Panthers.
"I wasn't really good whenever I first started at camp, and he really helped me through it," one middle-schooler said as the vigil passed his street. "He was really a part of helping me become a better football player, a better person in-general. He was always there for me."
Sunday night, the vigil crowd gathered at Gerlach's poster at the football field. Classmates, teammates and family sobbed at the loss.
"It's devastating and somber — but yet the love, that's also an amazing thing to feel," Best said.
While who shot Gerlach is still unknown, it's obvious there's a whole town missing his infectious smile.
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