Shakira Vallejo held her 2-year-old daughter in her arms as she talked about reading the news.<\/p>\n
Ashley Johnson-Barr, a 10-year-old Kotzebue girl, was found dead Friday after going missing Sept. 6. When Vallejo read about it, she said it immediately affected her.<\/p>\n
“I was heartbroken for her family, her parents,” Vallejo said. “I definitely hug my daughter a little tighter.”<\/p>\n
Vallejo was one of more than 100 people who stood outside the Andrew Hope Building on Monday night for a candlelight vigil in Johnson-Barr’s honor. The attendees stood in a circle, many of them holding their young children just as Vallejo was.<\/p>\n
Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska held the event, along with Sacred Grounds Coffee Shop and the Sealaska Corporation. CCTHITA President Richard Peterson and Tribal Court Presiding Judge Debra O’Gara<\/a> spoke to begin the ceremony, which culminated in a minute-long moment of silence.<\/p>\n Frances Andrews, who works at the CCTHITA Tribal Court, emceed the vigil. Just prior to the moment of silence, she said she hopes the next step is people taking action.<\/p>\n “I want everybody in this circle today to recognize that the silence is heard for her family, but what we do afterwards, I hope you leave here with a roar inside your heart and a roar inside what you do,” Andrews said to the crowd.<\/p>\n One way to help, Andrews said, is to go to Sacred Grounds — the coffee shop in the Andrew Hope Building — this week. All of the shop’s proceeds in the next few days, O’Gara announced, are going to go to Johnson-Barr’s family. The shop will also be accepting donations for at least the near future, Andrews said.<\/p>\n Peterson spoke at length about not allowing acts of violence against women and children become normal.<\/p>\n Both he and O’Gara said people need to become more vocal and assertive in their denouncement of violence in the household and in general. O’Gara said that whether that takes the form of a Facebook post, a letter to the editor or casting a ballot, people need to make their voices heard.<\/p>\n Kotzebue man Peter Wilson was charged with making false statements to police about Johnson-Barr. FBI Special Agent Michael Watson said in an affidavit<\/a> released Monday<\/a> that it appears Johnson-Barr was murdered, but the investigation is still open. Details of Johnson-Barr’s disappearance and death sounded familiar to many of the attendees.<\/p>\n