Friends mourn Virginia Beach shooting victim with a Filipino custom

Filipino community members honor Virginia Beach massacre victim Christopher Rapp with 9-day prayers. SCREENSHOT

CHESTERFIELD, Virginia – Filipino friends as well as kin of Virginia Beach shooting victim Christopher Rapp memorialized him with a Filipino tradition that honors loved ones who pass away.

For nine days loved ones pray for the departed person they’re mourning. The prayers prove that Rapp, one of 12 killed by a gunman in the Virginia Beach municipal hall, had made a huge impact on his community. Rapp and his wife, Bessie, were part of a cultural group, Kultura Filipino.

Virginia Beach shooting victim Christopher Rapp, with Filipina wife Bessie, was very active in the Powhatan, Virginia Filipino community. FACEBOOK

“We light a path for Chris to walk or to tread to reach the path to Jesus Christ,” Aly Ylarde of Kultura Filipino told NBC12.

Albert Magpoc said the mild-mannered Rapp loved Filipino food…He would just pick and taste it and say, ‘Oh yes, this is good. This is good’,” Magpoc told the news station.

Rapp, 54, was the shortest-tenured city employee killed in the May 31 massacre, having worked there for 11 months, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The group is trying to provide a support system to Rapp’s grieving wife of 24 years.