For a brief moment on Sunday, the world seemed to have stopped in Withrow Park.

All that could be heard was the murmuring breezes, rustling grass and birds chirping as Torontonians gathered to observe a moment of silence commemorating the lives lost and forever changed by a mass shooting that shocked the city — and country — one year ago.

“It’s good for us to get together. Why? We are here to express our love and support and compassion to the families of those who were lost and to those who were injured or witnessed unspeakable violence, as well as for a community that was shaken a year ago,” said Toronto police chaplain Rev. Wendell Gibbs, who led the hour-long service at the park on Logan Ave., just south of Danforth Ave.

“Today we stand and sit side by side to symbolize the solidarity we have experienced together with so many people around the city, the GTA and throughout the province and country, and the world at large,” Gibbs told hundreds of attendees, including victims’ families and friends, first responders, and members of the tight-knit Danforth community.

“By standing together united, in our brokenness and sadness, we dare to proclaim a message of hope and resilience in the face of evil. Evil will not flourish. Love will reign. Evil will not overcome, but the resolve for humanity in our community will remain strong.”

Gibbs’s message was followed by a reading of the names of the two victims who died — 18-year-old Reese Fallon and 10-year-old Julianna Kozis — as well as the 13 people injured on the evening of July 22, 2018, when lone gunman Faisal Hussain began randomly shooting people on a crowded stretch of Greektown. Hussain, who had a long history of mental health issues, fatally shot himself after exchanging gunfire with police.

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“To me, it doesn’t seem like a year ago this happened,” Sheryl Fallon, Reese’s aunt, told reporters in front of one of the two maple trees planted in memory of her niece and Kozis. “I still wake up every night in disbelief. I miss Reese every single minute.”

Bonny Curtis, who lives minutes away from the shooting scene, said the sound of that night’s gunshots was still fresh in her memory.

“I remember it like yesterday. I can’t believe it’s been a year. We have an amazing neighbourhood here and this could have happened to anyone,” said Curtis, who has lived in the area for 20 years. “I still feel safe in the city but I’m more alert now and I don’t take life for granted.”

Jay Demers, who lives in the west end of the city, was in the crowd with his 6-year-old son, Jonah, while his wife, Stephanie Rodriguez Bathgate, and mother-in-law, Jillian Bathgate, were rehearsing for the service with an interfaith choir. He said the tragedy has changed his perspective on Toronto.

“You always felt this could only happen in the United States, but Canada is no longer immune from the growing tension and division in the rest of the world,” said Demers, whose son and other kids from Eastminster United Church made a huge crayon banner with the words “Love Thy Neighbor,” on display in the park.

“It’s good to be doing this (memorial). We live in a culture when it’s too easy to forget and move on to the next story … It’s important that we don’t forget.”

Others wrote messages in chalk on the sidewalks around the park, among them: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only love can do that” and “Compassion without activism is just wishful thinking.”

Jeannette Dowson said everyone in the city is closely connected and the community must rally to address gun violence and underlying social issues.

“We are not six degrees of separation. It’s more like one degree,” said Dowson, sporting a black T-shirt with the slogan “We the Danforth.”

“This can happen to any neighbourhood as long as handguns are in the hands of those who are desperate, messed up and delusional. Handguns are a killing tool, but we also need to look at our social infrastructure, access to mental health care and counselling, things that are under siege (in the province) right now.”

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“This community is incredibly capable of healing itself. It is not over yet,” said Mayor John Tory, who called the memorial both sombre and uplifting.

“The way everybody helped each other, reached out to each other, comforting strangers from across the city, I was admiring although not surprised at that,” Tory told reporters after the service. “You don’t get a chance to see that unless tragedy strikes.”

A sunset vigil is also planned at 8:51 p.m. on Monday at Alexander the Great Parkette, at the northeast corner of Logan and Danforth Aves.