LOWER MANHATTAN — For Linda Maura, the 9/11 Memorial has become a source of solace in the years since her sister, Jill, was killed on Sept. 11.
"The families of victims, survivors, we come here and we find support with each other," said the Queens woman, standing on the memorial plaza with her mother, near the deep pools of water where the Twin Towers once stood. "But today, we want to show that love, that support to Orlando."
On Thursday, hundreds of people gathered at the 9/11 Memorial, to pay tribute to the dozens of victims killed and injured by a shooter in an Orlando gay club early Sunday morning.
During a brief ceremony, Joseph Daniels, president of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, told those gathered that he wished they did not have to be there Thursday to honor the victims of another senseless attack — but in the wake of the shootings, they chose to stand in solidarity with Orlando.
"An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us," said Daniels, after reading messages that both those in the Sept. 11 attacks sent to love ones before dying — and the text message of an Orlando victim to his mother that read "Mommy, I love you."
"No one, no one, should ever have to go through that," Daniels said holding back tears.
Joseph Daniels speaks at the 9/11 tribute to Orlando victims. (DNAinfo/Irene Plagianos)
Ribbons in rainbow colors were passed throughout the crowd, who were then encouraged to tie them to them to the 9/11 "Survivor Tree" — a tree as its name suggests, that managed to weather the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mourners tied hundreds of the bright ribbons from the branches, leaves and metal railing that encircle the tree. (DNAinfo/Irene Plagianos)
"My sister went to work like normal and never came home — these people went out for a night of fun, and they never came home," Maura said. "These were normal lives disrupted forever — we want Orlando to know we are here for them, they are not alone."
