Funeral Held For Wilkinsburg Shooting Victim With 5 Children

WILKINSBURG (KDKA) -- It was a solemn morning at Mulberry Missionary Baptist Church in Wilkinsburg, where friends and family came to say goodbye to 37-year-old Tina Louise Shelton.

Shelton was one of five people, including a pregnant woman, shot and killed on Mar. 9 during a back yard cookout at a home on Franklin Avenue. Rose Brice brought balloons to celebrate her friend's life.

"Hurt, overwhelmed, I feel bad for her kids, her mom, her brothers and sisters," Brice said.

The service inside was packed with many people coping with the loss.

"This was was what I say innocent individual who wasn't out in the streets. She always did good for people," Brice said.

Pastor Lawrence Smith delivered a eulogy that highlighted Tina's qualities as a dedicated mother of five children.

"I want to lean on her heavy work ethic and her sacrificial heart towards her children," Smith said.

He hopes the story of Shelton's life will influence mothers and fathers to be better parents.

"We can have the strength that we need from our fathers and the nurturing that needs to take place from our mothers and put that thing together and get back to how it used to be," Smith said.

As for the two suspected gunmen wanted for committing such a terrible crime, the pastor says his message does not include any hate or revenge.

"If the Father is saying I need to let it go and let God handle this thing then who am I as an onlooker, somebody that is not directly connected, to take up an torch and a mantle when the family has said we need to let it go," he said.

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