An Illinois man hand-built 49 white crosses to memorialize the Orlando victims
This week, Greg Zanis drove 1,200 miles from his hometown in Illinois to Orlando, Florida. His mission? To set up 49 white crosses he had constructed in honor of the 49 men and women killed in Sunday's tragic massacre at Pulse nightclub.
Zanis placed the crosses outside the Orlando Health Regional Medical Center, where the dozens of wounded victims have been treated, ABC News reports.
"My message today is love your brother, love your neighbor," Zanis told reporters. "Don't judge 'em."
This isn't the first time Zanis has traveled great distances to pay tribute to lives lost in mass shootings, CBS Miami reports. In 2012, he brought his crosses to Aurora, Colorado to commemorate the 12 who died in a movie theater shooting. Later that year, he brought 26 more to Newtown, Connecticut, following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Zanis told CBS Miami that he began making the crosses after his father-in law was murdered 20 years ago. Now, he tries to deliver them to the site of every mass murder in the United States as a way to help mourners express their condolences.
He said he was "just offering hope in a very hopeless situation."