There were nearly 3,000 candles for the nearly 3,000 gaping wounds that will never heal. The 3,000 scars that will never fade.
In Stuyvesant Town Wednesday night, two beams of light pierced the humid night sky from lower Manhattan during a vigil to honor the lost souls -- to hurt together as we approach the 20th anniversary of this city's darkest day.
And as New Yorkers collectively grief, the case against the alleged 9/11 mastermind resumes.
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Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees were back in court Wednesday in a courtroom at Guantanamo Bay.
The pre-trial hearing is now two days in. It's a trial that has been delayed for nearly a decade.
For survivors and family members of the victims, it is a process they have waited too long for.
Patricia Smith, 22, lost her mother, Moira Smith, in the September 11th attacks.
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She was the only female NYPD officer to die that day.
"Justice delayed is justice denied and now we're 20 years later with no justice," Patricia Smith said.
Twenty years later, for families and for all New Yorkers who lived through that day, it still feels like yesterday.
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