JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Weeks after a Jacksonville native was shot and killed by Illinois police, his family in the River City laid him to rest Saturday.
Marcellis Stinnette, 19, died Oct. 20 when a Waukegan Police officer shot into the car Stinnette was a passenger in. Stinnette’s girlfriend, who was driving, was also injured in the shooting.
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The officer who fired the shots has since been fired.
RELATED: Jacksonville family speaks out after 19-year-old killed by police outside Chicago
Stinnette’s sister, Zhanellis Banks, told News4Jax she and her brother were born in Jacksonville and raised here. She said Stinnette attended Terry Parker High School and had moved to Chicago recently.
“My brother was a legend,” Banks said. “To be cut down so young, so soon, so tragic.”
The family laid Stinnette to rest at Holy Tabernacle Church, where he often attended services.
Banks said she never imagined being where she was Saturday.
“To be honest, it feels like a cruel joke,” Banks said. “I was sharing Ahmaud Arbery, Breona Taylor, George Floyd posts. I was going hard for our community. Now it hits home because it’s Marcellis Stinnette, my brother, 19 years old killed.”
Bishop Tavis Grant was appointed by Rev. Jesse Jackson to be the national field director of Rainbow Push Coalition, a multi-racial, multi-issue organization fighting for social change. Grant attended Saturday’s funeral on Jackson’s behalf.
“We don’t grieve as those who don’t have hope. Our hope is that this case will bring about the type of change, the type of transformation, that will heal (not only) this family, but will heal families and communities all over the country,” Grant said.
Stinnette’s family attorney traveled from Chicago for Saturday’s memorial service.
“I promised the family they are not going to throw blood money at them. This is not one of those cases, whether the case settles or not, wherever this cases goes, I am in for the long haul with them,” attorney Kevin O’Connor said. “We are going to make a national change to develop respect on both sides.”
Also in attendance Saturday was Cortez Rice, the nephew of George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis/
“We are going to continue to scream their name every day,” Rice said. “We are going to continue to be in these streets. It takes hand in hand.”