Sante Fe sees 1st post-shooting funeral

Unlike the others who were gunned down at a Texas high school, Pakistani exchange student Sabika Sheikh didn’t have family in the U.S. to plan her funeral.

But that didn’t stop her adopted community. The 17-year-old, who had been attending classes at Santa Fe High School since August, was honored at her funeral Sunday afternoon at a mosque in suburban Houston.

The Islamic Society for Greater Houston opened the services up to members of the public. It was the first funeral for any of the 10 killed in Friday’s shooting.

“She doesn’t have any family here, but she has all of us and this whole community that is mourning,” said MJ Khan, president of the organization. “We are all there to be her family.”

Her father, Abdul Aziz Sheikh, has described his daughter as a hard-working, accomplished student who aspired to work in civil service and hoped one day to join Pakistan’s Foreign Office.

After the tragedy, many in the Santa Fe area aimed to find solace by turning to Sunday church services.

Gov. Greg Abbott and his wife, Cecilia Abbott, attended a service at Arcadia First Baptist Church on Sunday morning alongside other members of the heartbroken community.

Abbott hugged grieving parishioners and spoke with survivors of the shooting, including Monica Bracknell, an 18year-old senior at Santa Fe High School.

Surrounded by cameras, Bracknell told the governor she doesn’t think the shooting should be turned into a political battle over gun control and said she doesn’t believe guns were to blame in the attack.

Bracknell said that before the service, she went to her school to collect belongings left behind in the chaos of the shooting. She said she and her classmates are “shaken up” but coping.

Meanwhile, authorities were still in the beginning stages of their investigation Sunday, hoping to find a motive in the shooting and whether anyone else knew or helped suspect Dimitrios Pagourtzis in the attack.