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Image: Funeral Held For Baton Rouge Police Shooting Victim Alton Sterling

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Alton Sterling Sent Off With an Emotional Public Wake

Tears flowed as a crowd of a few thousand assembled at Southern University to remember Alton Sterling, who was shot by police last week.

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Image: Mourners pay their respects as they attend the funeral of Alton Sterling, in Baton Rouge

A poster of Alton Sterling is propped up ahead of his public viewing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 15.

— Jonathan Bachman / Reuters
Image: Funeral Held For Baton Rouge Police Shooting Victim Alton Sterling

The body of Alton Sterling lies in a casket as he is brought into his viewing at Southern University, a historically black college in north Baton Rouge.

— Sean Gardner / Getty Images
Image: An inmate with the Louisiana Department of Corrections is consoled by friends and family they attend the funeral of Alton Sterling, in Baton Rouge

An inmate with the Louisiana Department of Corrections is consoled by friends and family.

— Jonathan Bachman / Reuters
Image: Family and friends pay their respects as they attend the funeral of Alton Sterling, in Baton Rouge

A steady stream of mourners filed past the casket of Alton Sterling, the 37-year-old black man who was shot to death by two white police officers as he was pinned to the pavement outside a convenience store. The grieving paused Friday in front of Sterling's open casket, which was adorned with music notes and a smiling photo of the man. Sterling was selling CDs outside the store, as he had done for years, when he was killed by police responding to a call of a man threatening someone with a gun.

— Jonathan Bachman / Reuters
Image: Funeral Held For Baton Rouge Police Shooting Victim Alton Sterling

Sandra Sterling, aunt of Alton Sterling, cries for her nephew.

— Sean Gardner / Getty Images
Image: Funeral Held For Baton Rouge Police Shooting Victim Alton Sterling

Friends, family and the general public pay their respects. Sterling's occasion started with a gospel choir singing hymns, as many in the crowd of a couple thousand joined in. Gary Chambers, a spokesman for the Sterling family and master of ceremonies for the funeral, said at the beginning that the event was intended to be a celebration of Sterling's life -- not an opportunity for demonstrations about his death.

— Sean Gardner / Getty Images
Image: A mourner attends the funeral of Alton Sterling, in Baton Rouge

A mourner cries as after her time on stage during the open-casket ceremony.

— Jonathan Bachman / Reuters
Image: Friends and family attend the funeral of Alton Sterling, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

A crowd of a couple thousand people assembled Friday at Southern University.

— Joe Penney / Reuters
Image: A mourner raises her hand as she attends the funeral of Alton Sterling

A mourner raises her hand in praise.
— Joe Penney / Reuters
Image: Mourners dance as they attend the funeral of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge

Mourners dance as they attend the funeral.

 

Video: Mourners Make Alton Sterling’s Funeral a Celebration

 

— Joe Penney / Reuters
Image: The body of Alton Sterling, who was shot dead by Baton Rouge police officers, lies in a casket during his funeral, in Baton Rouge

The body of Alton Sterling, lies in a casket during his funeral. A burial took place later in the morning. The police shooting has lead the Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation.

— JONATHAN BACHMAN / Reuters
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