CHATHAM— The family and friends of Lee McCullum Jr. used his funeral service Friday as an opportunity to make an impassioned plea to those who are involved in the violence that brought them there.
McCullum's father, Lee Sr., asked his son's friends — who may want revenge for his death — not to retaliate.
"Fall Back. I don't want to go to anymore funerals. I'm not supposed to bury my son. My son was supposed to bury me," McCullum said. "Whoever did this, I'm going to pray for you in a different type of way."
Family, friends, well wishers, and community members packed Bethlehem Star Missionary Baptism Church, located at 9231 S. Cottage Grove Ave. to pay their respects to McCullum.
McCullum was found shot to death last week in the 500 block of West 126th Street, said Officer Ana Pacheco, a Chicago Police spokeswoman.
McCullum was the prom king of Fenger High School and appeared on the CNN documentary "Chicagoland," where he spoke of his time at the school. He started at Fenger with gang affiliations but ended up graduating as an honor roll student, athlete and prom king.
McCullum wanted to set the record straight about his son and his family.
"Lee has never been homeless. When you talk about my son, make sure you get the story right," McCullum said. "My son wasn't a punk. My son was raised right."
Craig Harris, a producer on "Chicagoland," found out about McCullum's death when Lee Sr. called him.
"I spent a lot of time with the family. He [McCullum] had put down a lot of that stuff but his opposition hadn't let it go,"Harris said. "He was trying to get out. He was trying to go back to school and he was working at Wendy's. I had visited him there."
Michael Chester, an activist with Violence Interrupters, had gotten to know McCullum. He spoke at the funeral.
"This isn't supposed to be like this. There's no way in the world that's supposed to be," Chester yelled while pointing at McCullum's casket. "They opened up a door that can never be closed."
Liz Dozier, the principal while McCullum was a student at Fenger, told DNAinfo that she "did not feel up to making any comments at this time."
Roosevelt Watkins III, Bethlehem Star's pastor, joined some who have criticized activist groups, including Black Lives Matter, by questioning why more of their members didn't attend McCullum's funeral service.
"I thought I'd see Black Lives Matter here. They only show up when white police officers kill black people," Watkins said. "Black lives matter everyday. It's not a black problem. It's not a white problem. It's a human problem. We need to breathe and look in the mirror and ask ourselves, 'Am I a good person? Am I a good parent?"
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