Ethiopia Church service held for Yoseph Tulu, Ethiopian community in Garland mourns

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WFAA

Posted on January 25, 2014 at 7:12 PM

Updated today at 7:28 PM

GARLAND — With hardly a dry eye in the church, the North Texas Ethiopian community used their sorrow on Saturday to honor one of their own, saying farewell to an honest man whose dreams were cut short by a killer.

It’s been five days since the murder of convenience store clerk Yosuk Tulu.

Loved ones tried to focus on the good times at Saturday’s service but it was difficult.

“It’s so sudden and so horrifying it’s not easy to let go,” said Minassie Beyene, a local parish member.

Hundreds of folks packed into the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Garland.

Family members were very distraught during the service, visibly crying and shaken at different points.

Tulu, 31, was remembered as being quiet and determined. He was set to be married in a couple of months, and his body is being flown back to Ethiopa for burial.

“We’ve been mourning the whole week,” said church member Minassie Beyene. “This coming Tueday, the bodies will arrive in Ehtiopa and they will have their due respect and burial ceremony over there, too.”

Colton Moore, the 18-year-old man charged in Tulu’s killing, has also been linked to a second shooting of a conveinience store clerk just about a block from the 7-Eleven where Tulu worked.

The clerk in that shooting survived, but Moore should soon face charges.

by TODD UNGER