Oct 13, 2008 6:29 pm US/Central
Community Gathers At Funeral Of Teen Shot On CTA
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Hundreds of mourners turned out for the funeral of a teenager who was gunned down on a CTA bus. Monday's funeral for Kiyanna Salters was about much more than the grief of her family and friends. As CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports it was a time to protest gun violence and to make a plea for peace.
Kiyanna Salters' casket left St. Sabina Church just before 2 p.m. Monday followed by a wave of family and friends. Many of them are still trying to make sense of her tragic death.
"People dying over crazy stuff, over a bump, that's not even no reason to shoot no one," said Azurae Young, Salters' friend.
"That's my friend, and she was an innocent bystander, only thing she was doing is trying to get home," said Timothy Logan, Salters' friend.
Among those attending Salters' funeral, Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan, and Ron and Annette Holt, who also lost their only child, Blair Holt, to a shooting on a CTA bus last year.
"Again a young person's life has been taken unnecessarily," said Ron Holt, Blair's father.
"This is crazy that young people have to live with this kind of fear," Duncan said. "It's crazy they have to worry about 'if I grow up' not 'when I grow up.'"
The Holts and Duncan joined Salters' mother Kenya Jackson, along with Father Michael Pfleger in their calls for tougher gun laws today.
Pfleger went on to plead with the young people before him to make a decision in Kiyanna's honor to never pick up a gun, and to never be around anyone with a gun.
Her friends had a plea of their own for their peers.
"If somebody upset you or anything, just you know shake it off, just walk away," said Monica Bracey, Salters' friend. "Don't just sit there and commit something as wrong as what happened to her."
Salters' family says she would be touched by the outpouring of love shown for her today, but she wouldn't want people to be sad.
"She would say, 'Wipe away the tears, these things happen, let's go on with life,'" said Tara Bruce, Salters' aunt.
Salters' family, along with Father Pfleger, also asked young people and their families to step up, and get help to those kids who they know are heading down the wrong path. They said by doing so, they might just save some other child's life.
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