BROWNSVILLE, Texas — With friends and family still demanding justice for a Texas eighth-grader shot by police after he pointed a pellet gun at them, a neighborhood priest struck a different tone Saturday, urging teens at his funeral to learn from the experience and “get out of trouble.”
The Rev. Jorge Gomez spoke in English and Spanish to an estimated 500 people who packed a Brownsville church for the funeral of 15-year-old Jaime Gonzalez. Police say Gonzalez was shot twice in the torso Wednesday morning after refusing officers’ repeated requests to drop what was later identified as a pellet gun.
Gomez saved his most poign ant remarks during the funeral for Gonzalez’s contemporaries. Dozens of them filled pews at the church one block from the teen’s home and wore matching white T-shirts with his photograph on the back.
The priest thanked them for their generosity — kids from the neighborhood ran a carwash to raise money for funeral expenses — and urged them to continue in that spirit.
“I implore you young people, learn from this experience,” Gomez said. “It is not easy to be a teenager . . . but it does not last forever.”
He added: “Young people, I invite you to get out of trouble. Don’t get lost.”
Gonzalez was a drum major at Cummings Middle School and active in his church. His parents and former teachers have said he was not perfect, but his problems were more of the mischievous sort. No one has explained why he had a gun in school.
