The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) will commemorate the fourth anniversary of the fatal Aug. 31, 2019, shootings that took place in both Midland and Odessa with a Shine a Light Sunrise Service in partnership with the Odessa Chamber, Odessa Arts, The City of Odessa, The Bridge, and Vitalant.
The commemorative service was announced in a video on the university's Facebook page by Kelby Davis, assistant pastor of the Bridge. “But I am also the mother of Anderson Kelby,” she said. “She was the 17-month-old baby who was injured on August 31st, 2019.”
"I want to invite you to our sunrise community service, Kelby said. "This is an opportunity for us to come together and change the narrative of what happened on August 31st, 2019. Let’s start our morning with hope, sunrise, coffee, and opportunities to give back and move forward as a community.”
The killing spree claimed the lives of 29-year-old U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employee Mary Granados, 15-year-old Odessa High School student Leilah Hernandez, Army veteran Kameron Brown, 25-year-old San Antonio resident Edwin Peregrino, 57-year-old business owner Rudolfo Arco, 35-year-old truck driver Raul Garcia, and 40-year-old married father of two Joe Griffith, Odessa ABC affiliate KMID Channel 2 and FOX affiliate KPEJ Channel 24 reported.
In the wake of the shootings, the Leilah Hernandez Act, introduced by State Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa), was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
“With the Leilah Hernandez Act, the Lone Star State will now have an Active Shooter Alert System that will notify Texans of violent threats in their communities and help save lives,” Abbott said in the report. “We will never forget the lives tragically cut short in the Midland-Odessa shooting, including 15-year-old Leilah Hernandez. “And we will never stop working towards a safer future for our state,” the governor, a Republican, said in a 2021 CBS7 news report.
Davis said the service will begin at 7 a.m. under the Mesa Deck on campus. A blood drive will be held afterward.