Manatee County families remember loved ones at 31st Annual Victims Candlelight Vigil

BRADENTON -- Joan Brier sat on a cushioned seat Monday evening with a framed photo of her grandson wrapped tightly in her hands. In it, James Brier smiled and his blue eyes shone.

James was killed on Oct. 18, 2001, during an after-school fight near Manatee High School.

"It just couldn't be," his still-grieving grandmother recalled when she found out her first grandson had died. "He was only 16."

Tears welled up in Brier's tired eyes as she remembered James. The 64-year-old Bradenton resident said he was sweet, kind, and had a very high IQ. James had plans that were cut short by his death -- he had just signed up with a friend to become a Navy SEAL.

Brier, who sat beside her husband, Ed Neimiller, was one of many who attended the 31st annual Victims Candlelight Vigil, held at River Life Church at 1012 Morgan Johnson Road. Hosted by the Manatee Victim Rights Council, the event

featured a brief address by Col. Rick Wells of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office and guest speaker Patrick Knight. Knight, the author of "Blessed to Survive: The Thanksgiving Day Massacre," delivered a stirring talk about his journey to reclaim his life after police say Knight's brother­-in-law killed Knight's wife and three other family members in a 2009 Thanksgiving Day shooting rampage in Jupiter. Knight's wife, Lisa Knight, was pregnant with their first child.

"People say, Patrick you're so positive now. How did you put this all behind you? That's amazing.' And I look at them incredulous like 'Put it behind you? Move past it? You can't do that. This sticks with you for the rest of your life,'" Knight said. "And not just this tragedy... everything you do in your life -- positive, good, bad, big, small -- becomes part of who you are. It's part of your character. It makes you who you are."

Knight, who has since remarried and has two children, said he has to carry this burden with him for the rest of his life.

"But the beauty of free will is you get to choose how you carry it," the 43-year-old said. "Some victims carry it like a boulder, chained around their neck and they can take every thought and they get into a depressing little thing and they keep sinking lower and lower and lower and they can't break out of it."

The audience sat in silence as Knight shared the difficult road of recovery after awakening in a hospital room from a three-month coma, and the grief that gripped him upon learning his wife had not survived.

Knight encouraged victims and families of victims to find the strength to reclaim their lives.

"There is a way forward for you. You are resilient," he said. "What happened to you or someone that you love, whatever it is that you're going through, there's a way forward and you have that resiliency. At the end of the day, when you look at me here, I hope that you don't see a victim at all."

Brier, who has been coming to the annual vigil for years, said going to the event brings comfort in a way. But, every year, she sees new faces which she described as extremely sad.

"Then you see the pictures up there and you remember seeing them in the papers and what happened to them," Brier said of photos of the victim displayed on a large screen ahead. "It's rough."

Christie Gish, 48, attended the vigil in honor of her best friend, Kathleen Briles. Briles was beaten to death with her cast-iron antique sewing machine in her Terra Ceia home on Aug. 9, 2009. Delmer Smith was sentenced to death by a judge on May 28, 2013, for Briles' killing.

"We had been friends since I was 17, so a long time," Gish said.

Gish said that on the day Briles was killed, Briles had stopped by Gish's job. According to Gish, Briles had wanted to hang out. Briles had some new workout equipment that she wanted to try with Gish. Gish said she opted out because she was tired.

"For a long time, I blamed myself for not going with her or doing something with her," Gish said, her voice breaking. "It took a long time... you always wonder, 'What if? What if I would have went to lunch or went home with her?'"

Amaris Castillo, law enforcement/island reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7051. Follow her on Twitter @AmarisCastillo.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 11:09 PM with the headline "Manatee County families remember loved ones at 31st Annual Victims Candlelight Vigil ."