DAVIS-

Thousands of UC Davis students sat side by side on their campus quad to honor those who lost their lives in last Friday’s deadly rampage near UC Santa Barbara.

“I know a couple of my friends had friends who were shot,” student Valerie Fleckenstein said.

Several UC Davis students told FOX40 they also had friends who were injured in the tragedy in Isla Vista.

One of those students, speaking to the audience, said she was at a pizza parlor in Isla Vista with her sister when the gunfire rung out.

“This will affect me for the rest of my life,” she said.

The candlelight vigil is part of a week of solidarity, across all UC campuses. Students, faculty members and community leaders gathering to help each other cope with the tragedy, and to keep an open discussion.

“Every time one of these shooting happens. Since 2007 at Virginia Tech they remind us of the mental state of many of our graduates that we need to be very sensitive toward,” Davis Mayor Joe Krovoza said.

“That is why were are gathered here tonight. To tell all of those who have been affected by this tragedy that there is hope and they are not alone,” UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi said.

The hope is that in the future, when students sit down next to each other to hear a story, its not another one about their friends being killed.

“I think this has been handled pretty sensitively, n terms of all the mass shootings I’ve seen in my lifetime,” said UC Davis student body President Armando Figueroa.