USA: JONESBORO: LAST VICTIM OF SCHOOLYARD SHOOTING IS BURIED

Описание: (29 Mar 1998) English/Nat

The shocked community of Jonesboro, Arkansas, buried the last of its dead on Saturday, after two days of funerals for the five victims of this week's schoolyard massacre.

Among those buried was Shannon Wright, a teacher at Westside Middle School, who used her body as a shield to keep her pupils from getting shot.

For a second day, funeral processions snaked their way through the Arkansas community.

One of the victims -- Shannon Wright, a teacher at Westside Middle School, who died while shielding a child from a bullet during Tuesday's shooting rampage that claimed four other lives.

Wright was buried in her home town of Bono, a few miles from Jonesboro where the massacre occurred.

She leaves behind a husband and a two-year-old son.

Hundreds of mourners turned out for the memorial service and the burial, with the media kept well away.

Those who turned out say they did so to honour her memory and to recognize the struggle of teachers everywhere in a world where school shootings have become more and more frequent.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I don't think I could do anything like that, and I'm certain it wasn't in her contract to do anything like that."
(Why did you come today?)
"As a sign of respect. I mean, they already have a hard enough job as it is, but now the way things are, they have an even tougher job."
SUPER CAPTION: Hershel Hallett, Father of a Wright student

Also on Saturday 11-year-old Britthney Varner was buried in Jonesboro.

Friends and relatives were moved to tears by the memory of the girl's cheery disposition.

And earlier in the day, around 200 mourners turned out for the funeral of Stephanie Johnson.

The other two victims of the massacre, Paige Ann Herring and Natalie Brooks, were buried on Friday.

During the service for Johnson, the Reverend called for understanding and ventured that perhaps the community could somehow draw strength from the tragedy.

Mostly, though, people are seeking an answer to why two young boys would steal an arsenal of guns and massacre their classmates, flushing them out with a bogus fire alarm.

The suspects, an 11-year-old and 13-year-old boy, are still in custody until a hearing on April 29th.

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