DENVER (KDVR) — Three dozen people gathered at Denver’s City Park Thursday night to mourn the three people killed over the weekend in Jacksonville, Florida by a man who, authorities said, had racist ties.

The hour-long vigil was held at the foot of the Martin Luther King Jr. statue.

Both Denver’s sheriff and the police chief were in attendance.

Denver Public School Board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson organized the event.

“We’re gonna be collectively mourning, but also celebrating life,” Anderson said prior to the vigil.

Faith leaders as well as some elected officials were also present.

3 Black people killed in hate crime

The vigil was held to mourn the loss of three Black people killed in Florida.

On Aug. 26, a masked white man carrying at least one weapon bearing a swastika fatally shot three Black people inside a Florida store in an attack with a clear motive of racial hatred, officials said.

The shooting in a Dollar General store in a predominately Black neighborhood left two men and one woman dead and was “racially motivated,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said.

“He hated Black people,” the sheriff said.

The shooting came on the same day thousands visited Washington, D.C., to attend the Rev. Al Sharpton’s 60th anniversary commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.