Despite snowfall and temperatures in the twenties, about 30 people gathered for a candlelight vigil on the Diag last night in remembrance of the six people killed on Saturday during the attempted assassination of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D–Ariz.).

The University’s chapter of the College Democrats organized the vigil last night as a non-partisan push for awareness and peace College Democrats Chair Brendan Campbell said.

The vigil included readings of articles from The New York Times about the shooting, personal statements and a moment of silence. Vigil attendees discussed Giffords’s status — she remains in a Tuscon, Ariz. hospital in critical condition — and expressed sympathy for the victims of the shooting.

“(The College Democrats) thought that we should demonstrate that people all over the country are with the victims, and also we wanted to take a stand against political violence,” Campbell said.

The shooting occurred at a Tucson, Ariz. supermarket during a meet-and-greet with Giffords. Among the six fatalities are a 9-year-old girl, a federal district judge and one of Giffords’s staff members. Fourteen individuals, including Giffords, were injured, The Associated Press reported.

The sole suspect in the attack, Jared Loughner, 22, first appeared in court Monday, and is facing two federal murder charges and three attempted murder charges. He is currently being held without bail in a correctional institute near Phoenix, according to the AP.

Mariah Zeisberg, an assistant professor of political science at the University, attended the vigil and read a personal statement to the group. She said awareness of mental illness is important to preventing shootings by young people like Loughner.

“As we are looking at the accessibility of guns, the damage our words can do to each other and so on, we also should create awareness and resources and support for families and individuals who are struggling with mental illness,” Zeisberg said.

Yonah Lieberman, co-chair of the JustDems committee of College Democrats, helped organize the event and led a moment of silence.

LSA junior Kaitlin Liroff, a member of the student group Human Rights Through Education, attended the vigil. She said violence can erode humanity, and America is “better than that.”

“I think that whenever people get together to do something positive, the world becomes a better place,” Liroff said. “(The vigil) might have been small, but I think it was still meaningful.”

LSA junior Elizabeth Hartig, a member of College Democrats, was also present at the vigil and also thought the turnout was impressive considering the weather.

“I think that tragedy shows that there is some hate in America, but the response to it is far greater than the hate,” Hartig said.

In a Jan. 8 press release, U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D–Mich.) addressed the effects of the shootings on the nation’s political climate and commended Giffords’s prior political successes.

“Our democracy was attacked (on Saturday),” Dingell wrote in the press release. “We are outraged and horrified by the violent attack that occurred on our citizens, including one of our great young American leaders, Gabby Giffords, who is one of the kindest and most dedicated members of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

According to John Garcia, research professor of archival development at the University’s Institute for Social Research, the shooting came at a time when both the nation and specifically the state of Arizona have been facing divisions regarding the issue of immigration.

Garcia said in an interview yesterday that he feels the state’s immigration debates have become increasingly contentious.