KIRKWOOD — The Friday night prayer vigil started with a song. The hundreds of people who gathered across the street from City Hall joined together singing "Amazing Grace."

Many held candles while they listened to several pastors read Scripture and pray for healing a night after a gunman's rampage left six dead. Some bowed their heads in prayer. Others hugged, their eyes glassed over with tears.

"I'm looking at this as an opportunity for the community to extend love to those who are different from us," said the Rev. Miguel Brinkley of the Kirkwood Church of God in the Meacham Park neighborhood.

He spoke passionately as he prayed that residents will put aside their differences and extend love to all.

"My prayer is for unity in Kirkwood," he told the crowd, who cheered his words.

It wasn't the first vigil of the day, and it likely won't be the last in the weeks to come.

"This is just the beginning," said the Rev. David Bennett said. "We are going to need to be here for each other."

At a noon service at his Kirkwood United Methodist Church, residents and officials, including two councilman who were in the council chambers Thursday night, packed together. In near silence, with just the tiny cough of a baby and the shuffling of jackets and shoes, a deep bell rang, five times, and then a sixth, for each victim.

Herb Jones, a past mayor of Kirkwood, was among the first to stand up.

"I don't think we can understand what has happened to our community," he said, his voice shaking. "They were all friends of ours, even the assailant. … There were a number of people who were there and will be scarred forever."

An undercurrent ran through the prayer offerings — an acknowledgment from some that there's a rift in the community. Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton was black and often said openly that he believed "white" Kirkwood was against him.

"We are here to love and accept each other … amid the differences that divide us," Bennett said, adding: "Let us not let the action of one man define who we are. We are far more than this."

St. Peter Catholic Church held a special evening Mass. It was followed by the prayer vigil across from City Hall, where people had covered the steps with flowers, balloons and signs bearing messages of encouragement.

Matt Barker, a Kirkwood High School senior, came to show his support, saying the huge turnout "just shows that Kirkwood can come together as a community after everything that happened."