Alexi C. Cardona & Dorothy Edwards

USA TODAY Network

Four days after a gunman opened fire inside Terminal 2 of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, no vigils or public memorials had been held for victims.

Previous mass shootings have stirred emotions from people in the communities in which the tragedies took place.

While people hurt in the shooting are being supported by their families and friends, there has been a lack of visible response from the general Broward County community.

In addition to a lack of memorials, no official GoFundMe accounts have been created. A single bouquet of pink flowers was left on a bench outside the baggage claim area of Terminal 2. Less than an hour later, it was gone.

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Calls made to several churches, community centers and parks to ask about whether community events had been planned to support victims were not returned.

Ross Middleton, a pastor at SouthCoast Church in Fort Lauderdale, said he had not heard about any vigils being organized in Fort Lauderdale.

His church is affiliated with Every Nation, a worldwide organization of churches and campus ministries. Middleton said that Every Nation issued a statement to its network of churches and that the statement offering thoughts and prayers was read during services Sunday.

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Charles B. Nemeroff, chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said he believes people have become so used to shootings that they may not know how to react anymore.

“We’ve become inert to this, as if it is almost a routine part of life,” Nemeroff said. “There’s a tremendous amount of desensitization, but also resignation that this has become part of who and what we are. It’s very sad. Five years ago, this would have been unthinkable. Ten years ago, certainly. Now it’s part and parcel of American life.”

Nemeroff said it’s likely the local community feels disconnected from the shooting because the victims who have so far been identified are not from Fort Lauderdale, even though the people were hurt in the local airport, are being treated in local hospitals and those who were killed were taken to the local medical examiner’s office.

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"Have these incidents become so de rigueur?” Nemeroff said. “Once you accept this as a norm, what does that say about our society?”

Another aspect, Nemeroff said, is a feeling of helplessness and that people think there is no ready solution to the problem of mass shootings.

“We like to think of our country as a relatively safe place to live,” Nemeroff said. “These kinds of events bring us to forcibly accept the fact that life is uncertain and unpredictable things happen. Those are very unsettling thoughts to most of us. I think that’s part of why this incident has quickly become yesterday’s news.”

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On the government side, the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime is providing funding to the FBI Office of Victim Assistance to address needs like crisis counseling, criminal justice advocacy, shelter and therapy, according to Jim Goodwin, spokesman for the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs.

Goodwin said local government response varies depending on the severity of the incident, but that victims and families primarily want reliable information, particularly about the status of loved ones. Government support often entails the establishment of a Family Assistance Center and crisis response services, like emergency travel, activation of a toll-free number, crisis counseling and management of personal items.