President-Elect Barack Obama Is Sworn In As The 44th President Of The United States
Nov 17, 2008 8:10 am US/Eastern
Funeral Services Today For Slain Dillard Student
Funeral Mass at St. Clement Catholic Church in Wilton Manors
I-Team data shows school violence rising
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
-
-
The relatives of slain student Amanda Collette explain the family's grief.
CBS
-
-
Teah Wimberly, 15, charged with first-degree murder on Nov. 13th in a Ft. Lauderdale court.
CBS
Family, friends and classmates of Amanda Collette will gather at St. Clements Catholic Church in Wilton Manors for a funeral mass to celebrate her life and mourn her death.
The 15 year old Dillard High School student was shot to death last week by fellow classmate Teah Wimberly, according to police. Wimberly reportedly confessed to the shooting during questioning.
The funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. at the church at 2975 North Andrews Avenue followed by burial services at Sunset Memorial Gardens at 3201 NW 19th St. in Fort Lauderdale.
Sunday afternoon more than 700 mourners packed Dillard High School's Performing Arts Building Sunday to say goodbye.
During the two hour service, sobbing classmates filed passed Amanda's pink coffin to see their disarming friend for the last time. One grief-stricken friend said "Amanda was the best friend you could have, she loved to dance."
Hannah Baumgarten, Collette's modern dance instructor at the school told the audience "Amanda is proof even the quietest can touch many."
Collette's large extended family filled the auditorium's front rows. Amanda's mother, Joyce Collette, hugged relatives and crying friends.
"It's a great loss to the family. She was a great person. She was my project until she was 13 and then I was her project," explained Anthony Thompson, Amanda Collette's stepfather. "We just hope kids look at this situation and understand it is a cruel world."
"We are human, we feel the pain and grief and loss. But we know the sun will shine again and we hold onto that hope, said her cousin Chris McLemore.
Friday Collette's family said they hoped Amanda's death will not have been in vain. They hope her murder will lead to better school security and awareness about school violence. Her aunt, Teshawnia Thompson, spoke to the news media at a family home explaining, "She was only 15, and she touched so many lives… from the amount of calls we received."
Many of Amanda's family members are graduates of Dillard High. They believe more steps should be taken to curb potential violence. "The thing that bothers me is that Amanda is not here. She's only 15 years old, and she's gone, and this didn't have to happen."
"School violence is a very serious issue and it's something that we all need to be aware of and to address. There's some preventative measures that could have been taken and maybe this would not have happened," Thompson insisted.
Last Thursday, Wimberly was formally charged with first-degree for the death of Collette. According to the girls' friends, Wimberly was upset recently after having approached Collette about a relationship and was rejected.
The Broward State Attorney's Office has indicated that she will most likely be charged as an adult. To charge her with first degree murder as an adult, prosecutors must take their evidence to a grand jury and have them hand up an indictment.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Inauguration: A Stay-At-Home Guide
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Lawmakers Gear Up For 1st Test Vote On Health Bill 58 mins ago 
I-Team: Tracking The Florida Stimulus Money Trail 
Stumble It!
