THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 6, 1994 TAG: 9407060383
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK AND SARAH HUNTLEY, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Little Joshua Son knelt beside his mother on Tuesday and threw a red rose into his father's grave. Then he sobbed for the first time during the funeral and said, ``Bye, Daddy. Bye, Daddy.''
LamVan Son, a Vietnamese immigrant who owned the Witchduck Inn, was one of four people killed late Thursday night at the bar.
Joshua, 4, was the only person spared by a gunman who police say was bent on robbery. The child was asleep in a back room at the Witchduck Inn when the bloody rampage - the worst mass killing in the city's history - started less than 20 feet away. He was unhurt.
Throughout the funeral at Rosewood Memorial Park Cemetery for Joshua's 41-year-old father, the boy's face was filled with bewilderment. He wore a traditional Vietnamese white sash on his forehead, a white tunic and loose white trousers. His mother also wore traditional garments.
About 50 people attended the Roman Catholic funeral, which was conducted in Vietnamese.
Two other victims of the shooting, Abdelaziz Gren and Wendel G. Parrish Jr., also were buried at Rosewood cemetery Tuesday.
The fourth victim, 31-year-old bartender Karen S. Rounds, will be buried in her native Pennsylvania.
At the funeral for Parrish, the Rev. James H. Nowell read passages from Psalms, Romans and Corinthians as the 32-year-old handyman at the bar was buried. Parrish had returned to Hampton Roads two weeks ago after working as a roofer in Western Virginia. About 60 people attended the brief graveside ceremony.
There were about 200 people at the Islamic funeral service for Gren. One of them, Mohammed Boulftali, quietly dropped some darts and a Moroccan flag on the casket of his 34-year-old friend. A Muslim and native of Morocco, Gren was buried with his face pointed toward Mecca.
Gren and Boulftali were regular customers at the Witchduck Inn, where they often played darts and planned fishing trips.
Before the burial, the mourners gathered at the Islamic Center of Tidewater to pray for Gren, who was brought to the United States 24 years ago by his brother-in-law, Jim Garcia.
The women knelt in a corner at the mosque, as the men faced the east and prayed on their knees.
The men chanted, ``There is only one God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God,'' first as they carried Gren's casket out of the mosque, and again as they carried it to the gravesite.
``At times of grief we meet together, and the grief is reduced,'' said Dr. Ghouse Hyder, who performed Gren's service. ``Death is a continuation of life. It is just a phase of life. We live and then we go away.''
But other Islamic beliefs are harsher. When asked what should happen to those responsible for Gren's death, Garcia was direct.
``If you take a life, you give a life,'' Garcia said. ``An eye for an eye.'' MEMO: Staff writer Joseph Cosco contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MORT FRYMAN/Staff
Joshua Son, 4, clutches a photograph as he and his mother, Lanna,
are escorted from his father's funeral on Tuesday.
Photo
BILL TIERNAN/Staff
During the funeral Tuesday for murder victim Abdelaziz Gren, his
sisters Nouzha Metz, standing in the doorway, and Khadija Johnson,
right, mourn at the Islamic Center or Tidewater. In keeping with
Islamic tradition, the women stayed away from the casket while the
men prayed.
KEYWORDS: MURDER ROBBERIES SHOOTING
ARREST by CNB