DeEbony Groves was singing gospel songs when she was shot and killed with three others at a Waffle House in suburban Nashville last Sunday, the chief executive officer of the restaurant chain said at her funeral service Saturday, according to The Tennessean.
Groves, 21, was just days from graduating from Belmont University with a bachelor's degree in social work when she was killed when a gunman opened fire inside the Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee, the newspaper said.
The Waffle House's Walt Ehmer said he spoke to survivors of the shooting after arriving in Nashville and mentioned at the funeral how emotionally they spoke of Groves, The Tennessean reported.
"They said they were singing gospel songs," Ehmer told the funeral, according to the newspaper. "And everybody was singing and enjoying each other."
Renee Hampton, the aunt of Sharita Henderson, who was injured in the shooting, spoke on her behalf at the funeral about Groves, per The Tennessean. Henderson and Groves reportedly belonged to the same sorority, Delta Sigma Theta.
"I will cherish every smile, every laugh, every hug, every display of love," Hampton said, according to the newspaper. "DeEbony's life was a display of God's love."
Travis Reinking, 29, is charged with four counts of criminal homicide in connection with the Waffle House shooting, according to WSMV-TV, along with four counts of attempted murder and one count of unlawful gun possession in the commission of a violent felony. His bond was set as $2 million, the television station said.
Last year, Reinking was arrested in Washington, D.C. after breaching a White House security barrier after requesting to speak to President Donald Trump, according to CNN.
The Tennessean wrote that hundreds attended Groves' funeral service at the First Baptist Church in Gallatin, Tennessee.
"If you look around you, her life speaks for itself," Juan Rodriguez, pastor at Grace Tabernacle Christian Center, where Groves attended, told the audience, The Tennessean wrote.
Groves' brother, DiAngelo Groves, sang "The Will of God," a song both sang together in the church choir, the newspaper said.
"My heart is like all in my chest right now," DiAngelo Groves, said, per The Tennessean. "I'm not a singer ... I just want to sing this for my sister."
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