Hundreds gather in Barrie for funeral of teen killed in Dominican Republic
Posted Feb 18, 2011 06:16:37 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BARRIE, Ont. – Jordan Morrison’s friends and family will remember the teen as a caring young man who stood up for what he believed in, even if it meant putting his own life in danger.
“He’s a hero,” Steven Erwin, one of Morrison’s best friends, said after the teen’s funeral Friday.
Morrison was killed last month while on holiday in the Dominican Republic.
The 19-year-old was attacked outside a resort nightclub in Punta Cana after he came to the aid of a woman in a bar who was spit on.
“He would have done the same for any girl, any animal, any man,” Erwin said of his friend. “That’s just who Jordan was.”
Hundreds of mourners gathered at the Hi-Way Pentecostal Church to pay their respects to a young man they described as a role model and inspiration.
“Even though he was younger, I looked up to him,” Morrison’s friend Elizabeth Smith said during the brief but emotional service.
Many wept openly as photos of a smiling Morrison were projected on the wall.
During the service, Morrison’s brother read a poem Morrison wrote in Grade 9.
“I worry about the world ending,” Steve McGuinnis read. “I cry when one of my animals die.”
Austin Hall, who is related to Morrison on his father’s side, said the family was overwhelmed with grief.
“They’re just really, really, really sad right now, they’re having trouble talking,” he said outside the church. “I’m having trouble talking myself.”
Another friend, Tristan Nicholson-Bray, said she hopes justice will be done.
Two men from Montreal remain in a Dominican jail and could face possible charges of voluntary homicide.
Their defence lawyer has said the men were drunk at the time of the fight and did not intend to kill Morrison.
The detained men are Canadian citizen Dmytro Aref Yev and Algerian national Bouzid Redha.
