CHICAGO — Hundreds of mourners and dignitaries including first lady Michelle Obama stood and applauded the family of a 15-year-old Chicago girl for their strength Saturday, a week and a half after her death brought national attention to the city’s staggering gun violence.
A funeral service was held Saturday for Hadiya Pendleton, a band majorette who was shot and killed on Jan. 29, just a few days after performing for events surrounding President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Police say Pendleton was an innocent victim in a gang-related shooting.
Michelle Obama met privately with the family and accompanied the girl’s mother to the open casket at the front of a packed South Side church just before the start of the service.
Obama, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side, put her arm around Cleopatra Pendleton and patted her back. The woman threw her head back and wailed as the lid of her daughter’s flower-strewn casket was closed.
Updated
Rev. Michael Pfleger is speaking in this video:
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It’s seeing children at the funerals saying good bye to another child that is so heartbreaking.
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Oh my sweet Jesus! This breaks my heart into a million pieces. Father, I lift the family up to you. Comfort them and embrace them with your everlasting love and tender mercies.
Breaking News: 2 charged with murder in Hadiya Pendleton slaying
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-hadiya-pendleton-charges-20130211,0,631238.story
Two men have been charged in the shooting death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton in a case of mistaken identity in which one of those charged was trying to retaliate for his being shot last year, authorities said.
Charged were Michael Ward, 18, and Kenneth Williams, 20. The two face charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and aggravated battery with a firearm in the attack that also left two other teens wounded. Ward, of the 3900 block of South Lake Park Avenue, who confessed, was believed to be the shooter, police said.
Williams, of the 300 block of West 59th Street, had been shot in July, but refused to sign a complaint against those police suspected in that attack. Williams and Ward targeted the group Hadiya was with because they believed, mistakenly, they were members of the gang responsible for that shooting, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said in a news conference at Area Central police headquarters this evening.
Thank God they’ve been charged. Punk ass thugs killing that beautiful child who had so much to offer the world.
Two questioned in Hadiya shooting
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/10/16919173-two-questioned-in-hadiya-shooting?lite
Police arrested two suspects Sunday morning who are being questioned in the death of slain teen Hadiya Pendleton, officials confirmed with NBC.
The suspects were pulled over early this morning around 67th Street and South Chicago Avenue after detectives canvassed the area around Harsh Park, Chicago police said.
Sources close to the investigation said no charges have been filed and the investigation is ongoing.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson leaves the wake of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton at the Calahan Funeral Home in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo: Getty Images)
Looks like Jessie’s grieving for his own child., JJJ.
An overflow crowd stands outside the Greater Harvest M.B. Church during the funeral of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton on February 9, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo: Getty Images)
There’s is NOTHING more heart-breaking than seeing a mother bury their child May God Bless the Pendleton family. Rev. Michael Pfleger, you spoke the truth today.
Portrait of grief: Hadiya Pendleton funeral in Chicago
by Jason Keyser and Sara Burnett, Associated Press | February 9, 2013 at 5:20 PM
http://thegrio.com/2013/02/09/portrait-of-grief-the-hadiya-pendleton-funeral/#s:funeral-held-for-teen-girl-killed-at-chicago-playground-3
Life of ‘Angel’ Hadiya Pendleton celebrated at funeral
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/18117591-418/life-of-angel-hadiya-pendleton-celebrated-at-funeral.html
Hundreds of mourners, including a teary Michelle Obama, packed a South Side church Saturday and said goodbye to Hadiya Pendleton, the bright 15-year-old whose murder made national headlines when she was gunned down by a gang member last month.
The First Lady, who was seen walking down at the Greater Harvest Baptist Church shortly after 11 a.m., sat down in the pews and then got up to join Hadiya’s mother in front of the casket, wrapping her arms around the grieving woman. The pair then stood in a five-minute embrace.
Moments earlier, Obama supposedly met with the family in a private room in the building that teemed with Secret Service officers and Chicago Police. Obama was given a standing ovation toward the end of the nearly four-hour service.
Days before Hadiya was shot, she attended President Barack Obama’s inauguration, performing as a baton-twirling majorette with her King College Prep school band at a party sponsored by U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis. Davis was at Saturday’s services.
Most sad, but remember, Hadiya Pendleton may have been buried, but you can’t bury her love and her spirit. They will live forever, thanks to God.
You touched my heart. I’m almost wailing.
http://twitpic.com/c28oi5
***weeping***
Miranda
To me, its far more powerful for FLOTUS to attend than PBO. This is a mother of a daughter who was only a few years younger than Hadiya…there but before the grace of God, could have been Malia. FLOTUS was born and raised there. She IS Chicago..this is not to dismiss PBO’s work and connection to the city nor is it meant to dismiss the pain of a father, but its just seems so much more poignant for FLOTUS and Valerie Jarrett to attend.
this death has struck a chord, and broken hearts.
RIP, Ms. Pendleton
President Obama’s handwritten letter to the parents of Hadiya Pendleton