Murder victim Nizzel Anthony George
MINNEAPOLIS -- For a kid who never got to see the world, the world came to see him and say goodbye.
Friends and family packed into the Shiloh Temple International Ministries with heavy hearts to remember Nizzel George. He was just five years old and dead after a bullet struck him in the back while he was sleeping on his grandmother's couch last Tuesday.
The pain was still fresh for his mother who stood silently over his tiny casket. From his untimely death comes a call to action.
"No mother should have to bury their child. No father should have to bury their child. And today somebody somewhere has got to say doggone it enough is enough," a Bishop said during the funeral.
Authorities say Nizzel died because of retaliation between two groups of people.
He was just two months shy of his sixth birthday. He was excited for first grade but he never got the chance. At his funeral there was hope others will.
"There are in the pews here, many five year old children still with us and if we could honor his memory in any way we could honor the children that are still with us," Minneapolis city councilor Don Samuels said at the service.
Nizzel loved riding his bike, making music and playing in the park. A relative told KARE 11 their family may have lost a life on earth, but heaven gained an angel and North Minneapolis, got a wakeup call.
Stephon Shannon, 17, and an unnamed 15-year-old boy have been charged in Nizzel's death.
(Copyright 2012 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)