JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 20-year-old Jacksonville man who was shot and killed a week ago in a drive-by shooting has been laid to rest.
Police say Anthony Stinson was visiting his grandmother when he was gunned down. Stinson was killed right before his 21st birthday.
Loved ones paid their final respects at Stinson's funeral on Saturday, remembering the young man who loved football and his silver Mustang.
The pastor described Stinson's gentle spirit and warm heart, but he also attacked violence in the community.
"He was a young man who grew up in this church family, had been a member here for years," said John Allen Newman of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church. "Of course when a young man of this age group, young African American males cut down by a bullet is always tragic in this case, particularly tragic to be so young."
"It was a message of responsibility, a community message of not so much be reinvented, but reawakened, you know, that we have to get away from this whole idea that we're not responsible," continued Newman. "Someone knows who did this and this community has to be responsible enough to come forward and say something. This is an anonymous tip line no one has got to come forward as far as putting themselves on the line, but someone knows, has to take responsibility. This is not God's will. God's will was not for him to be murdered. His will was for this young man to live a beautiful and full life."
Earlier this week, family and friends went to the streets handing out flyers, asking neighbors for their help to find Stinson's killer.