BMLGSaturday at CMA Music Festival in Nashville, season-3 winner of The Voice Cassadee Pope remembered season-6 contestant Christina Grimmie, who was gunned down Friday night in Orlando after a concert.
“My heart goes out to her family and friends,” the Florida native said. “I’ve met her a few times and obviously I’m a fan of what she did and her work. So, it’s just a really sad day for everybody. But, you know I’m performing on her behalf tonight.”
Chris Young, Cassadee’s partner on their recent number-one duet, “Think of You,” also had the 22-year-old, who was killed while signing autographs, on his mind.
“You know, it’s just so incredibly sad that something like that happened. I think everybody that I’ve seen pretty much, whether it’s on social media or other artists I’ve talked to or fans that I’ve talked to about it, it’s just such an incredibly sad moment,” he said. “That’s really the only thing that I’ve taken away from it is just such an unnecessary loss of someone’s life so young.”
Cassadee, on the other hand, couldn’t help but be struck by the fact that she was in a very similar situation as Grimmie before the attack on Friday night.
“I did a show… last night and I stayed after for about 45 minutes to sign for fans and I had nobody checking bags or anything before they came to meet me. I think there’s a certain level of safety that we need to think about, but it’s impossible to foresee any of that happening.”
So far, we don’t know why 27-year-old Kevin James Loibl attacked Grimmie. Loibl shot himself after Christina’s brother Marcus tackled him.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
