With rain falling from the darkened sky and votive candles lighting the images of four people shot to death on Jersey City’s bloody Tuesday, gun control advocates said it was time for Congress to adopt federal legislation curbing the free flow of weapons from other states that kill people in New Jersey.

Authorities say the weapons used by Tuesday’s suspects had been purchased in Ohio, and organizers of the vigil along with invited federal and state officials quoted an array of statistics underscoring what they said was a need for passage of nationwide gun control measures, including H.R.8, requiring background checks for all gun purchasers.

“Enough is enough,” said Brett Sabo, the New Jersey state chair of Moms Demand Action, a gun-control advocacy group.

Students Demand Action, Moms Demand Action, Hudson Partnership CMO, and Jersey City Anti-Violence Coalition host a candlelight vigil outside the Jersey City City Hall annex to honor and remember the victims of the recent mass shooting, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal

Jai Patel, who leads the state chapter of Students Demand Action, said 60% of all guns recovered at New Jersey crime scenes come from states that do not require background checks.

Bill Castner, Gov. Phil Murphy’s special adviser on firearms, told a gathering made up mostly of activists and a dozen television news crews that 80% of gun crimes committed in New Jersey involved out-of-state weapons.

“Our hearts are filled with sorrow, our hearts are filled with grief,” Castner told the camera crews and a handful of others gathered in the rain. But thanks to Congressional inaction that allows guns to circulate from state to state, he added, “Our minds are filled with frustration. Our minds are filled with anger.”

Students Demand Action, Moms Demand Action, Hudson Partnership CMO, and Jersey City Anti-Violence Coalition host a candlelight vigil outside the Jersey City City Hall annex to honor and remember the victims of the recent mass shooting, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal

The event took place in Jackson Square, a plaza outside a city government office building few blocks up Martin Luther King Drive from where video footage captured Tuesday’s assailants double-parking a stolen U-Haul van outside a Kosher grocery store, before getting out and walking toward the store armed with a rifle and a shotgun, which they began firing even before entering.

The carnage that ended four hours later following a firefight with police left five people in the store dead, including the suspects and three victims, after the pair had fatally shot Jersey City Police Detective Joseph Seals, who had encountered them earlier that day in the stolen van.

The victims inside the store were Moshe Deutsch, 24, a Hasidic man who was visiting the budding Hasidic neighborhood from Brooklyn; Leah Minda Ferencz, 33, a member of the Hasidic community and a mother of three who co-owned the store with her husband; and Miguel Douglas Rodriguez, 49, of Jersey City, who worked in the Kosher grocery but was not Jewish.

Jai Patel, the student organizer of Students Demand Action, places flowers near photos of the slain victims prior to the start of the vigil. Students Demand Action, Moms Demand Action, Hudson Partnership CMO, and Jersey City Anti-Violence Coalition host a candlelight vigil outside Jersey City City Hall Annex to honor and remember the victims of the recent mass shooting. Friday, December 13, 2019. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media) Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media

Organizers said the vigil was intended to honor the survivors and remember the victims. Because authorities are characterizing the shooting as an act of anti-Semitism, the event included traditional Shabbat blessings and prayers welcoming the Jewish Sabbath as night fell on Friday.

Members of moms and student groups carried placards reading, “Disarm Hate.” Another member of Moms Demand Action, Eytan Stern Weber, recited a prayer in Hebrew.

Among those who also spoke were two Democratic members of Congress applauded by organizers for their positions in favor of strict gun control: U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, who had spoken out earlier on the gun issue during an interfaith service at a local synagogue; and U.S. Rep. Albio Sires, who represents parts of Jersey City in New Jersey’s 8th Congressional district.

U.S. Rep. Albio Sires speaks at the vigil. Students Demand Action, Moms Demand Action, Hudson Partnership CMO, and Jersey City Anti-Violence Coalition host a candlelight vigil outside the Jersey City City Hall annex to honor and remember the victims of the recent mass shooting, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal

Sires told the gathering that he was proud of the “F” grade he has consistently received from gun-rights advocates, and vowed to “continue to fight” the National Rifle Association. Menendez took care first to memorialize the four victims.

“We join together tonight as a community in remembrance and in defiance of those who ultimately have hate in their heart. We join together in remembrance of those who were lost: a mother; a student; an immigrant and a valorous police officer, who gave his life to service to our community and lost his life in pursuit of that service,” Menendez told the gathering.

He then called on his colleagues in the House and Senate to pass universal background checks and the restoration of a lapsed federal assault weapons ban.

“And if we can commit ourselves to this effort we can memorialize their lives that would give meaning to their lives in a way that I think would exist for far, far longer in the days ahead,” Menendez said. “We need as a nation to not only reject hatred, to reject intolerance, to reject anti-Semitism, but we also need to reject the scourge of gun violence.”

Detective Joseph SealsPhoto provided

The suspects in Tuesday’s shootings, both killed, were identified as David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50. Authorities say Anderson had viewed anti-Semitic materials online, and published reports quoted sources linking him to the Black Hebrew Israelites movement, whose adherents believe African Americans are the true descendants of the ancient Israelites.

The store is adjacent to a building that has been converted to a small street-level synagogue with a Jewish school on the second floor attended by 50-60 children. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Friday that he believed, based on a review of video footage, that the suspects intended to attack the school too. The school children remained locked down above the synagogue and adjacent store for hours while the mayhem played out, and a rabbi called it a “miracle” that they were not hurt.

In addition to prayer and remembrance, monetary support has flooded in for the victims’ survivors, through online drives set up on Charidy.com and GoFundMe. For example, a GoFundMe page for the detective’s five children had raised more than $443,000 by 8 p.m. on Friday, nearly reaching its goal of $500,000 after having been set up just two days earlier.

Miguel Douglas, also known as Douglas Rodriguez (left), Leah Minda Ferencz, 33,(middle) and Moshe Deutsch, 24 (right) were killed inside the store in Jersey City on Dec. 10, 2019 (Photos provided by Chabad.org)

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.