More than 1,000 people attended the funeral Saturday for Christian Taylor, the 19-year-old football player who was shot and killed by an Arlington, Texas, police trainee at a car dealership earlier this month, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Dozens of teammates from Angelo State University, where Taylor was to start his sophomore year, shared remembrances and paid their respects at the service at Koinonia Christian Church in Arlington.
“They made the five-hour trip from San Angelo … to support Christian’s family and loved ones and to help work through their grief over the loss of their teammate and friend,” according to a statement from the university, the report says.
Addressing surveillance video that showed an unarmed Taylor on Aug. 7 before the police encounter behaving erratically and vandalizing vehicles at a car dealership, a pastor said, “He’s not lost,” writes the Dallas News. “He’s just transcended.”
Billy Gipson, a neighbor of the Taylor family, paid his respects at the funeral, the news outlet reports, saying, “The person you see on TV isn’t the individual I knew.”
The teen was slain by now fired rookie Officer Brad Miller. Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson has asked the FBI’s Dallas office to help determine any possible criminal case or police violations in Taylor’s death.
Read more at the Dallas Morning News.