Church leaders work to patch up the bullet holes left in the lobby's burgundy carpet, the church's pastor and neighbors Monday called on the city to make gun violence a higher priority. The family of Darshawn L. Cross, 31, who was shot at least three times inside the church, said prayers at his bedside Monday, moments before he was declared brain-dead. He was surrounded by eight to 10 relatives and friends at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center. Investigators say they have leads in the suspected gang-related shooting, which turned into a homicide Monday. No arrests have been made.
"Even real live gangsters and the Mafia respect the church -- they may shoot you when you come out of it but won't shoot you when you come in it," said Robert Richardson, a church elder from another North Portland church active in gang outreach ministry. "But when we get to a place where a young man has gotten so ripped with anger, misunderstanding and the malice of a thug-life, he has no conscience for the serenity of a church, it's a real sad commentary." Richardson knew Cross and helped lead prayers at his bedside Monday. "I prayed this would be a wake-up call, not to advance the violence, but to reduce the violence," he said.
On Friday, Cross was attending the funeral service for his friends' mother, Sharon Lynn Kemp, 51, when he was shot. About 150 people were in the main sanctuary for the funeral. The service was nearing the end when gunfire erupted.
Church leaders said they'd seen Cross fighting with a man at the back of the church. People separated the two, taking Cross to a small receiving room beside the sanctuary, and the other man to the lobby. But a door connects the two areas, and they began fighting again. The Rev. Robert C. Jointer, New Hope's pastor, did not lead the funeral service and was in his study on the same floor.

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