MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The heavy pall of gloom and the packed-to-capacity Goodness and Mercy Temple Apostolic Church in Mandeville were indications of the deep and abiding love that family and friends had for four-year-old Gia Griniell.

Throughout the tearful funeral service on Thursday for the little girl who died from a gunshot wound to the back of her head in May, mourners recalled her ability to uplift people’s spirits, so much so that her godmother, Erlal Martin-Mattrasingh, described Gia as an angel.

“She had the ability to turn the darkest day of someone into light and happiness… She was a walking world of encouragement at such a tender age. She was an angel. She was a gift from God and sent to touch our lives,” said Martin-Mattrasingh.

Deidria Watt-Christie, principal of Yabnel International Preparatory where Gia was a student, was obviously torn by Gia’s death.

“A piece of us is missing… She brought the light into any room that she came into and I know if she were here today she would be jumping, laughing and skipping and having a jolly good time,” Watt-Christie said before joining her staff in delivering a tribute in song.

Stacy-Ann Griffiths, head of the school’s kindergarten department, shared a similar sentiment and sympathised with the grieving family.

“Gia was such a beautiful, sparkling, splendid, bright, intelligent, industrious soul and these are just some adjectives that I can use to describe Gia. As a teacher at Yabnel International I came in contact with Gia when I had the pre-kindergarten class,” she shared.

“Standing here today is not easy, and we as mothers — in giving birth, having a child in our womb for nine months and sometimes they come premature, seven months — we know the pain that the mother and the father… are going through,” said Griffiths.

Gia’s grief-stricken mother, Yanique Brown, sat in the front row to the right of the small white and purple coffin under an arch of flowers. Small unicorn wreaths completed the decoration.

The funeral programme documented with photos each year of Gia’s very short life.

It was reported that Gia died during a shooting incident at the family home at Ingleside Boulevard on May 20.

A police report said about 10:00 pm Gia, her 12-year-old sibling, and their mother were at home when the shooting happened.

According to the police report, the mother told detectives that she put both children to bed and went to use the restroom when she heard a loud explosion. The mother’s licensed firearm was reportedly left in her handbag.

A week after the shooting incident Brown, 38, was charged with child negligence and breach of duty to securely store a firearm and ammunition.

On Thursday, officiating minister at the funeral, Pastor Donovan Brooks, recalled the moment he christened Gia as a baby.

“Her life has touched us in so many ways. I am here and I am wondering myself why this had to happen… because I got the call from her mother four years ago to christen her. I got the call four years ago to be the one to bless her and now four years later I am called again to come and to do the funeral service for this child,” he told mourners.

Pointing to the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the child’s death Brooks reminded the congregation, “Death is appointed to all men and none of us can choose how we want to die.”

Added the pastor: “If we can choose the way we want to go, then none of us would want to die. But death comes in any form it chooses and it comes to anybody, whether we are rich or poor, white or black, because death is no respecter of persons. You can choose to blame, you can chose to complain, but God doesn’t want us to do that, because that will not change anything.”

He emphasised the impact of the child’s life and encouraged the grieving family to pull on the support of others who filled the church.

“It is all a testament that you saw that she was special, you saw that she was here for a purpose that is why you came to pay your tributes and respect. Look at a four-year-old getting such a big funeral. I have seen people who are bigger than her, live longer than her, and when you came to the funeral service you couldn’t even find that half the church was like this, so this is something big. I want you to take this pain and turn it into power,” he said.

In addition to the tributes Gia’s schoolmates, as well as staff from the Manchester Municipal Corporation where her father works, laid roses beside the coffin on which her name was engraved.