NEW ORLEANS - Hundreds of mourners gathered at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in New Orleans East on Saturday. Many of them wore purple ribbons, in honor of seven-year-old Paige DeJean.
"That was her favorite color," said her grandfather, Henry DeJean, Sr.
The tragic event that lead to the funeral, unfolded less than a week ago. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said last Sunday, two men-- 21-year-old Andre Preston of Kenner and 21-year-old Roger Chairs of Jefferson were shooting at the occupants of another vehicle on Upland Avenue, off of Jefferson Highway in River Ridge. Bullets penetrated the outside wall of a nearby apartment building. One of the bullets hit Paige in the neck and killed her. Investigators credit tips from the surrounding community for leading to the arrests. Paige's grandfather said he is grateful to those who spoke up.
"If they wouldn't have stepped forward, the case wouldn't have gotten solved," he said. "The individuals that committed this crime maybe would have gotten caught years later, or maybe never at all. It gives my son some kind of resolution, some kind of closure for his daughter."
At the time of her death, Paige's father, Staff Sgt. Henry DeJean, was in Kuwait, deployed there as a member of the Louisiana National Guard. Earlier this week, he told Eyewitness News that he was stunned when he received the phone call about Paige.
"I never in a million years thought when I returned from deployment I'd have to come back to bury my child," he said.
It is a death the family is still reeling from a week later.
"It's hard," Paige's grandfather said. "Death visits everybody, but when it's a child, it's just extra. No grandparent expects to be alive and their grandchild-- it's supposed to be vice versa."
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's office is still searching for three individuals who were in the other vehicle involved in the shooting. Anyone with additional information on the case is being asked to call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.
