'We are all in pain': Vigils for Dallas officers in Aurora, Elgin

Lidia Garcia's two sons each stood on their toes, reaching their arms around an Aurora police officer outside his station Tuesday.

The children's parents are Latina and black. And their mom brought them to a vigil the department hosted to honor the five Dallas police officers killed by a shooter last week and to call for deeper dialogue between minorities and law enforcement.

"I want my children to learn that they shouldn't be afraid of the cops, that by hugging them we're crossing that bridge," Garcia said. "We're not separated. We're making those connections."

Roughly 100 Aurora police officers and residents came together for the solemn, hourlong vigil by the station on East Indian Trail.

New Life Covenant Church in Elgin held its own vigil for peace and to remember the victims of the Dallas shooting. It drew about 25 people.

The gathering in Aurora bowed their heads in a moment of silence, mourning the black men fatally shot by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, the Dallas victims of the worst single attack on police since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and their families.

"We are all in pain," Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said. "But if we don't take these heavy hearts and transform that weight into something positive, we will never break down walls or build bridges."

Ziman, who became chief earlier this year, credited "strong relationships" between police and residents of the second-largest city in Illinois for the reason the crowd assembled "in peace, not in protest."

"There is no 'us,' and there is no 'them' in this city," she said. "There is only 'we.'"

Ziman and other organizers were touched by the support police received from well-wishers who shared cards, snacks, flowers and kinds words acknowledging a job that's not "very glamorous" and "certainly isn't coveted."

"It is imperative that we all do our part and try to make things better for everyone," Cmdr. Keith Cross said.

That means building trust and having even "uncomfortable conversations."

"We have to put ourselves in other people's shoes and see how other people feel," Cross said.

Most of the department's 11 chaplains took turns leading prayers in both English and Spanish. One of them, Randy Schoof, pastor of the Warehouse Church in Aurora, had one simple message of comfort for police.

"Remember that you're not alone," he said.

The past week left Garcia "angry," but she felt reassured by the show of unity and the sight of her sons hugging an officer.

"I know it's bigger than that, but that's the start," she said.