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At Michael Brown's funeral, celebration and calls for change

Stephanie Lecci / St. Louis Public Radio

More than four thousand people attended the funeral of 18-year-old police shooting victim Michael Brown in St. Louis Monday. Illinois Public Radio's Stephanie Lecci reports.

Upbeat spiritual music filled Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church as Michael Brown's funeral began. 

In his eulogy, Rev. Al Sharpton called Brown's death a seminal moment that could spark a movement for changes in policing.

"There's something wrong that we have money to give military equipment to police forces, but we don't have police forces for training and public education and money to train our children." 

Later, Brown's casket - covered at the funeral in red roses and a St. Louis Cardinals' baseball cap - was taken by horse drawn carriage into St. Peter’s Cemetery.

Stephanie joined WUWM in September 2008 as the Coordinating Producer of the locally produced weekday magazine program Lake Effect.