Thousands Attend Orlando Vigil To Prove That Love Wins “We are heartbroken, but our community is strong.”

  06/13/2016 11:01 pm ET

ORLANDO, Fla. — Thousands gathered Monday evening in downtown Orlando to pay respects to the victims of Sunday’s massacre — the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history — and spread the hopeful message that love will prevail in the face of hatred.

ORLANDO SENTINEL VIA GETTY IMAGES

Outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, a little more than a mile from the gay club where 49 people were killed and 53 were injured by an American-born gunman who had pledged allegiance to ISIS, people from all backgrounds and walks of life — black, white, Hispanic, gay, straight, transexual, Christian and Muslim — stood side by side, united against the violence that shocked the world a day earlier. 

Carlos Guillermo Smith, of Equality Florida, told the crowd there’s no mistake the shooting was intended to “send a message of hate against the Latino and LGBT people, which in turn is an attack on all humanity.” 

“We are heartbroken, but our community is strong,” Smith said. “We are resilient. And we know that love trumps hate.”

People waved LGBT pride and American flags. Countless hugs were exchanged. At one point, many joined in chanting, “Peace. Love. Pulse.”

Before the vigil, Charles Schaeffer, 27, could be found piecing together a massive ribbon with the gay pride colors and a series of signs he’d painted, which read, “One city/one family/one love/one heart/one pulse.”

“I knew a lot of staff, managers, patrons” of Pulse, Schaeffer told The Huffington Post. “Some made it out. Some didn’t.”