A number of people braved the cold to sing songs and pray. George Pancio was an administrator at Olean High School during a school shooting in December, 1974. He says he knows first hand what the Connecticut town of Newtown is going through, and it inspired him to organize the vigil.

"If you see something wrong, report it, before it gets out of hand," Pancio said. "And if this group here just saves one incident of kids not getting killed or adults, adults are people too, then tonight was not in vain," he said.

Twenty six lanterns were lit in memory of the victims as a local church bell tolled 26 times.