Hundreds of people attended a wake for an eighth-grader who was fatally shot by police who thought the boy was brandishing a handgun at school.
Police later learned 15-year-old Jaime Gonzalez was holding a pellet gun Wednesday inside Cummings Middle School in Brownsville.
Brownsville police said the pellet gun closely resembled a handgun. Interim Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez said Gonzalez had "plenty of opportunities" to lower the gun and listen to officers.
A long line of mourners filed past his open casket Thursday night at Holy Family Catholic Church. His stepmother, Noralva Gonzalez, sobbed as she embraced each visitor.
The Rev. Jorge Gomez apologized to the young people among the 400 mourners, saying "it is our fault as adults that the world is the way it is now."
Dozens of young teenagers wearing white shirts sat in the pews and lined the back wall of the church, then gathered outside and chanted the boy's name.
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