ELIZABETH CITY – “Our community is hurting. The answer is love. God is love.”

That’s how Abel E. opened up his heartfelt tribute to the victims and families of the Pasquotank Correctional Institution officers who died during a failed prison break attempt.

 Singing Jackie DeShannon’s hit, “What the World Needs Now,”  a tune written decades before Abel was born, now has a lot of people online smiling and wiping away tears.

One person commented under the viral post, “I’m in tears. My mom works there and was there when this all went down. Thank you for this. Hugs sweet boy.”

MORE: 4 inmates charged with 1^st degree murder in attempted prison break

Abel held at his chest the names of the four employees who died in October: Veronica Darden, Justin Smith, Wendy Shannon and Geoffrey Howe.

At the time of this article, the post by Ganellee Gaddy Sutton received more than 166,000 views on Facebook with more than 4,500 shares and hundreds of reactions ranging from ‘love’ to ‘sad.’

Near the end of the video, Abel breaks down holding a sign reading “never forgotten.”