Crosby Church members pray Monday for Christian “Riley” Garcia and all the other victims of the Santa Fe shooting.
CROSBY — Dozens of worshippers at Crosby Church braved an early evening downpour Monday to attend a prayer service for all the Santa Fe High victims, but especially for Christian “Riley” Garcia, one of the students killed Friday morning.
Riley, 15, was a freshman who had recently transferred to the Santa Fe school district because his family was building a home there. But Crosby residents still consider him a hometown boy.
According to early reports, Riley died while holding a door shut in the school’s art hallway so other students could escape. The gunman fired through the door, striking and killing him.
The way the teen died — holding a door closed to save his classmates — “that really is what he was throughout life,” said Crosby Church pastor Keenan Smith.
“He was an exemplary kid,” Smith said. Riley didn’t seek the spotlight, the pastor said, but he was honest and trustworthy and could always be counted on to do the right thing.
A framed photo of Riley sat propped on an easel at the front of the sanctuary Monday. In it, Riley rests his head against a wooden beam in the family’s new home, a piece of wood that would have formed the frame of his doorway.
On that beam, Riley had scrawled a passage from the Bible: “He said, ‘Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.’ ”
“Our hearts ache,” Smith told the congregation, “for all those who have lost so very much in such a senseless, needless, horrific act of violence.”
Smith said he was dismayed by politicians who say the nation doesn’t need more prayers.
“I say tonight that prayer is action,” he said. “It is prayer that makes a difference and motivates the hearts of men. We forgot that a long time ago, and that’s why we’re seeing some of these needless things unfold for us today.”
Smith said the immediate family was waiting for the 15-year-old’s body to be released, but several of his extended family members joined the congregation — including his uncle.
“He didn’t deserve this,” said Riley’s uncle, who identified himself only as Josh. “None of these kids deserved this.”