Bayou Church Pastor Walker has been in Lafayette for nearly 40 years, and says he’s never experienced a tragedy like this.

“We’re just trying to put a touch because there is a hurt. I mean we’ve been devastated. There’s been a hard blow as I say we were knocked down but we are not knocked out,” Pastor Mike Walker said.

The service opened with “Amazing Grace” followed by a prayer for victims Jillian Johnson and Mayci Breaux and their families.

Pastor Walker also took time to pray for the local law enforcement and first responders.

“I had actually just got home from work and we were eating dinner and the cell phone started ringing. People were asking if I knew anything was going on so I made a couple phone calls and tried to figure out as much as I could. And it was just one of those nights, didn’t sleep that much,” Phil Conrad, of the Lafayette City Marshall’s Office, tells KLFY.

While the shooting has affected him at work, he says he is also figuring out how to deal with the tragedy as a father.

“The four year old I don’t think she knows really what happened. My daughter Madison knows exactly what happened. Her and her grandmother and Ells were supposed to go to a movie that day over there.  I believe they were supposed to attend a four or five o’clock movie and it got canceled. So I think we can say some prayers on that,” he said.

Conrad says the best thing he can teach his daughter’s now is to not let this incident change how they live their lives day to day, “we’ll never forget this day but we will be able to move on.”

A lot of that credit owed to local law enforcement he explains, “they’re well trained and they did exactly what they were supposed to do and there’s no doubt in my mind and I believe in the public’s mind at this point that they did save who knows how many lives.”