Paying Respects

Fellow churchgoers, close friends, relatives and acquaintances of the Griego family shared laughter and shed tears Friday during a funeral at Calvary church — a spiritual home to the family for more than a decade.

Two Albuquerque fire trucks hoisted a 50-foot-long American flag; law enforcement chaplains carried five urns of varying sizes into the chapel; and prominent community members joined dozens of family members and thousands of other mourners in celebrating the lives of the five victims.

Sarah and Greg Griego and three of their children — Zephaniah, 9; Jael, 5; and Angelina, 2 — were killed last weekend by the Griegos’ 15-year-old son Nehemiah, according to Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies.

The crowd of mourners, most clad in black, could be seen packing into the 2,000-seat church for the service. Hundreds more watched the procession on TVs in nearby spill-over rooms.

The services included speeches from Greg Griego’s fellow Calvary pastors, as well as family members of both Sarah and Greg Griego.

Five urns of varying sizes are removed from the fire department’s funeral engine before being escorted into Calvary church Friday afternoon, when services were held for members of the Griego family. (jim thompson/journal)

— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal