ORANGE, Texas — Dozens came together to offer prayers for a little girl who captured the hearts of Southeast Texans.
The attendees chose to celebrate little Savannah's life instead of focusing on her death during the candlelight vigil to remember her, Friday night, February 23.
The community said they came together, looking to each other to help get through this tragedy.
"Even though it's not our child, we hurt for them," Denise Miller said.
Mourners said they grieved the loss of a child whose life, they said, was taken way too soon.
"A beautiful little girl, she was quiet," Miller said. "She wasn't like some 2 year olds who are rambunctious."
Orange Police said two year old Savannah Roque was violently murdered by her father Yovahnis Roque on Tuesday, February 19. He claimed he was trying to destroy a microchip he believed was inside of her.
Denise Miller brought the mourners together to console each other.
"I think it's really important for our neighborhood and our community to get together and to look out for one another," she said.
"We're just pulling for this neighborhood because we realize this wakes us all up to how tragedies can happen so quickly," Pinehurst Pentecostal Church Pastor Bill Smith said, as he led the vigil.
Smith said the vigil is the first step towards healing.
"It's great to know that we'll be there for each other," Smith said. "Just like when the storms come and things, we all pull together."
And in this time of darkness, the community is choosing light.
"We all have children here, and we just need to come together as a whole," Miller said.
Savannah's extended family told 12news there will be another vigil to remember Savannah and her mother in Miami on Wednesday, February 27.