CONCORD, N.C. — Aveanna Propst, the 13-year-old shot and killed outside the Concord Mills Mall last weekend, was laid to rest Saturday afternoon.
The line wrapped around the church at Barber Scotia College in Concord for several hours, hundreds of people crowding inside for the funeral, focusing on celebrating the young girl’s life.
Police say Propst was not the intended target in last Saturday's shooting outside of Dave and Busters and two teens are now behind bars -- 18-year-old Dontae Milton-Black and a 15-year-old who has not been named are both charged with first-degree murder.
The service was a celebration of a life taken too soon.
“She was just so pretty, very beautiful, and smart and she loved her family,” said Gitana Propst, Aveanna Propst’s aunt.
Hundreds of people were singing, lifting their hands and praying for strength, tears streaming down faces as they say their final goodbyes. So many young people were forced to grow up. Her younger brother vowed to lift his family as they're forced to live without her.
“I will miss you Ave and I love you," he said. "I promise to take care of my mom."
It's a tragedy that's touched the entire community. Aveanna Propst was an 8th grader at ACE Academy.
“They go to school Monday morning and I know my niece is going to have a desk that’s sitting there empty,” Gitana Propst said.
Her teachers said it's a void they cannot fill.
“Her bubbly smile, the joy that she brought to my classroom and just the love that we shared together,” her English teacher Jaime Alsop said.
Among the grief is a dose of reality, as the pastor made a passionate plea to teenagers.
“Put them guns down all right, I hear you talking about old people in one thing or another but you young people are killing each other,” Pastor Wesley Harding with Shiloh Baptist Church of Concord said to those at the service.
Aveanna Propst’s aunt says they’re thankful for how quickly Concord Police made the arrest and they’re hopeful justice will be served.