(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Victory City Church was full of family, friends, colleagues and community members on Saturday as hundreds came to pay their respects to seven members of the Esters and Nance families, who were killed by one of their own in a mass shooting.
Their names: Christine and William Esters and Tameaka, Joshua, Alexandria, Alonnah and Angel Nance.
“I thought I would have words for today, but I don’t,” said Cara Esters, the surviving member of the immediate family killed. “I don’t have words for our heartache, and I don’t think I ever will.”
The family members were laid to rest in white caskets adorned with purple, pink, white and green flowers, according to the Sun-Times.
A GoFundMe campaign raised over $65,000 to help cover the cost caskets, burial plots and other funeral expenses, as well as to support the surviving family members.
There's still no explanation for why Romeo Nance turned a gun on his mother, Tameaka; his sisters, Alexandria, Alonnah and Angel; his brother Joshua; and his aunt and uncle Christine and William on Jan. 21.
The 23-year-old Romeo Nance died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Texas on the following day, after he had been confronted by U.S. marshals. Police also found an eighth shooting victim, identified as Toyosi Bakare. They believe the killing of Bakare was random.
Nance’s girlfriend — the mother of his 3-year-old son — has been charged with obstruction of justice.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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