"I'm always proud to be a Viking, but it made me really proud to think of everybody in the building," Rodriguez said of learning about the financial support. "First and foremost, I was very proud, but I also wanted to express my support. That's my city, and when you say it hit home, my heart still swells with a lot of grief for those people.

"I'm fortunate that no one I knew was directly involved in it, but it still hurts me," Rodriguez said. "I can only imagine the hurt that my fellow citizens are going through, just because that's the way our community is. It still hurts me, and I still feel grief for them. I wanted to show my support and tell them that the Vikings are with you, that I'm with El Paso."

Ifeadi explained of his letter: "I thought it was important to let the people of Dayton know, 'You guys aren't doing this by yourself. You guys are in the national news. There are people that are thinking about you.' There's people from Dayton that are doing good things and have a platform, and I feel like I owe it to myself and the people around me, to my community to speak up and let them know, 'You have my support.' "

Rodriguez knows there will be "a lot of heartache going forward," but he expects "the strength of El Paso" will help overcome the tragedy.

"We've got beautiful mountains, great food, great weather — but the strength of El Paso is the people," Rodriguez said. "You get to know them, and it's just amazing. You fall in love with it. I think it's kind of shown itself in these last few weeks.

"Andre immediately came in and embraced the city. He was very positive, and sure enough, people loved him there," he added. "He's never said a bad word about my city, and I've always loved and respected him for that. It hurt him, too. He really showed a lot of support for me because he knows how much El Paso means to me. I could tell it meant something to him, too, so it was nice to share it with him."

Under challenging times, Rodriguez has seen his community show toughness and camaraderie, as well as how tight-knit it is. He credits those virtues with shaping him.