COLD SPRING (AP) -- Tears mixed with laughter Sunday as residents here joined together in a prayer service 11 days after the fatal shooting of a student at Rocori High School.

"The sun was darkened in our community," the Rev. Denny Curran of River of Life Assembly of God Church in Cold Spring said of the shooting. "We're here because we want you to know we're pulling together. There's something powerful when a community pulls together."

Jason McLaughlin, a 15-year-old freshman, is accused of shooting two students on Sept. 24. Aaron Rollins, a senior, was killed. Freshman Seth Bartell remains in critical condition at St. Cloud Hospital.

The ecumenical prayer service was organized by church leaders in the Cold Spring area. Nearly 250 people spent the 50-minute service focusing on healing, prayer and the future. The service was in the school's gymnasium, where Bartell was found with two gunshot wounds.

"Today, we reclaim not just this gymnasium, but this school," said The Rev. Ron Bockhaus of Cold Spring's Peace Lutheran Church. "And by doing this, we reclaim our lives and the goodness that might happen."

Students spoke fondly of their classmates.

Senior Erin Rieland said Rollins could melt you with his smile. "He was so happy with life, no matter what he was going through," she said. "It's hard to go to school now and not see him."

Bartell is good at everything he does and always able to make someone laugh, junior Jeff Torgerson said. "Seth is a stud," Torgerson said, to laughter. "Everyone wants to be like Seth."

There are lessons to be learned from the shooting and its aftermath, Curran said.

"Healing is possible. Hope can be restored," he said. "Here is our chance to be a blessing."