President Joe Biden arrived in New Orleans Monday to attend an interfaith prayer service at the St. Louis Cathedral, where officials and community members honored the victims of the violent attack on New Year’s Day that killed 14 and left dozens more wounded.

Among the notables attending the ceremony were Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, and various New Orleans City Council members. Earlier in the day, Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with victims’ families. 

By late afternoon, throngs were lined up outside the cathedral waiting to get into the service. Among them was Royce Johnson, a Broadway actor and New Orleans native who had been in the French Quarter on New Year’s Eve and heard the attack, which is being investigated by the FBI as a terrorist attack.

Johnson said he attended the prayer service because he wanted to support the families who lost loved ones when 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar ran over dozens with his truck on Bourbon Street before being killed in a gunfight with police.

“We want them to know we care,” he said.

Before the public was allowed into the cathedral, Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson was already seated in a fourth row pew. A regular parishioner at the cathedral, Benson said she was “devastated” by the tragedy and came to the service because “I feel it’s important to be here for the families.”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” she added. 

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill greeted Benson with a hug.

“I was glad to see this service was scheduled,” Murrill said. “It gives us an opportunity to come together to mourn the tragic loss of life and pray for those still in the hospital.”

New Orleans City Council members Eugene Greene, JP Morrell and Leslie Thomas were also in attendance. 

“This terrorist did not achieve what he set out to achieve,” Greene said. “We didn’t cancel things and go into a shell. He brought this community closer together.”

A group from the Special Response Team of the Louisiana Probation and Parole officers, who were on the scene Wednesday morning and helped stop Jabbar, were invited to attend the service. Some of the group had administered first aid after the attack. 

“It means the world to us to be able to show our respect to the families during their time of grief, “ said Joseph Cotton, deputy commander of the special response team.

Former City Council member Arnie Fielkow and his wife Susan came to support the victims’ families and to show their love for the city.

“It is such a tragic situation,” Fielkow said. “It is important for them to know they have the love of all New Orleans families.”