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Target employees mourn loss of two team members in Orlando shooting

ORLANDO -- A powerful image shows Target employees at a Florida store holding a moment of silence for two of the victims of the Orlando massacre who were members of their team.

CBS News' Jamie Yuccas reports that mass shooting victims Merecedez Flores and Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo were both Target employees.

Flores was a Target team member for eight years, and Ocasio-Capo for two.

In addition to the Orlando store, the headquarters in Minneapolis also held a moment of silence company wide at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Across the United States, people have gathered at vigils honoring the victims of a shooting attack at the gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead and more than 50 wounded.

From North Carolina to New York, from Connecticut to Texas, Americans have held vigils. And many more vigils are planned for the coming days.

Thousands gathered Monday night in downtown Orlando for a vigil to support victims.

Many in the crowd at the vigil Monday evening say they were inspired to attend because Pulse played a huge role in their lives as gays and lesbians.

Comfort dogs help Orlando terror victims recover 01:27

Cathleen Daus, now 36 says, "It was a place that a young 20-year-old who wasn't openly gay felt safe for the first time." She worked at Pulse in her twenties. "Pulse gave me confidence, made me realize I was normal and so much like everyone else."

The vigil was held on the lawn of the Dr. Phillips Center, the area's main performing arts venue. It's also the location of a makeshift memorial, where folks have been leaving flowers, candles and notes for the victims.

Members of LGBT groups and their supporters met in the Boystown neighborhood of Chicago on Monday. Among them was Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who said the city has stepped up security in gay communities. Also there in solidarity were mothers who have lost their children to gun violence.

Hundreds of people in Austin, Texas, attended an evening vigil Monday at the Capitol that included Muslim leaders and a Christian pastor, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Eiffel Tower lights up for Orlando victims 00:21

New Yorkers gathered in Manhattan at a historic bar to grieve, flocking to the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village Sunday evening.

Several hundred people filled the parking lot of a popular LGBT-district bistro in downtown Atlanta Monday, singing, lighting candles and speaking out against the violence that struck Orlando.

In Southern California, the Los Angeles LGBT Center has organized a rally and vigil outside City Hall on Monday evening, one of a number of events around the state.

Puerto Ricans held somber vigils and prepared to bury many of their own after authorities said nearly half of those killed at a gay nightclub in Florida had ties to the U.S. territory.

Officials said that while it's still unclear how many of the 23 Puerto Ricans killed were born on the U.S. mainland or had moved there from the island, they expect many of them to be laid to rest in Puerto Rico in the coming days.

"We have a lot of family members who have lived in the United States for many years but they want their loved ones buried here," Roberto Padua, sub-secretary of Puerto Rico's State Department, which is helping organize the transfer of the bodies, said Tuesday.

"It's devastating," said Pedro Julio Serrano, a prominent local gay rights activist, calling it the worst tragedy in the history of Puerto Rico's LGBT community.

He said several families are planning vigils in the United States and then burials in Puerto Rico, adding that several human rights organizations are helping them cover flight and funeral costs.

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