Community

JCC Shooting Anniversary Draws Thousands To Walk Onward

KCUR | By Elle Moxley

Published April 14, 2015 at 11:27 AM CDT

1 of 8

Mindy Corporon and her husband, Len Losen, meet with friends before the SevenDays walk. They lost their son, 14-year-old Reat Underwood, in last year's shooting at the Jewish Community Center.

Elle Moxley / KCUR

2 of 8

Teenagers dance in the Jewish Community Center parking lot before the SevenDays walk begins.

Elle Moxley / KCUR

3 of 8

Supporters gather at the Jewish Community Center before the SevenDays walk.

Elle Moxley / KCUR

4 of 8

Dancers perform to 'Happy' before the SevenDays walk begins.

Elle Moxley / KCUR

5 of 8

More than 3,000 people registered for the SevenDays walk.

Elle Moxley / KCUR

6 of 8

Kansas City Mayor Sly James, left, Lukas Losen and Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlach listen as Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick offers a blessing. Losen's 14-year-old brother, Reat Underwood, and grandfather, William Corporon, died in the shooting last year.

Elle Moxley / KCUR

7 of 8

Dancers performed to 'Happy' before the SevenDays walk.

Elle Moxley / KCUR

8 of 8

Walkers set off toward Church of the Resurrection.

Elle Moxley / KCUR

Mindy Corporon and her husband, Len Losen, watched as thousands of people began a walk from the Jewish Community Center to the Church of the Resurrection in Overland Park, Kansas, Monday night.

It's been a year since Reat Underwood, 14; William Corporon, 69; and Terri LaManno, 53; died in the shootings at the Jewish Community Center and Village Shalom.

And tomorrow, Corporon will look onward, the theme for the walk and the last of the SevenDays events planned in honor of her late son and father.

But not yet. Not tonight.

"The last year that Reat lived, my word for the year was to be present, and I was very present with Reat and (my other son) Lukas and Len," Corporon says. "I want to be present tonight. I want to be here and soak all this in and not forget it."

Len Losen and Mindy Corporon follow the crowd out of the Jewish Community Center parking lot Monday night. They lost their 14-year-old son, Reat Underwood, in last year's shooting.

Corporon's family and the LaMannos organized SevenDays to encourage people to pay it forward during the week leading up to the anniversary of the shooting.

Overland Park police had to ask the SevenDays organization to close registration after 3,000 people signed up to participate in the walk.

Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick offered a blessing before the walk began.

"They threw in their lot with the Jewish people, and we will always honor their memories," he said.