Four-year-old Brayden Barksdale was buried Wednesday.
He died Monday morning after being shot inside of his Sobley Road home. Authorities arrested his mother’s boyfriend, Patrick Chambers, and charged him with murder after the incident.
Services for Barksdale were at Lowndes Funeral Home. There was not an empty seat inside the chapel, which was decorated with yellow flowers.
During the half-hour service, the room was filled with sounds of crying as people remembered Barksdale, a blond-haired southern boy who had a large family and was fond of little boy things like trucks and John Deere tractors, fishing and football, Ninja Turtles and NASCAR.
Amy Richardson, his mother, wanted people to know how friendly her son was. He would talk to anyone.
“He met no strangers,” she said.
“We love him very much,” Richardson added. “And we miss him very much.”
Brayden’s aunt, Crystal Powell, set up a fundraiser on gofundme.com after his death to help pay for his burial. The goal was $4,000. In two days, $4,150 had been raised.
At the website people left messages.
One person wrote that Brayden “touched more lives in your four short years than some do in 100.”
Another called him “a cool little dude.”
Another: “May God comfort you during this difficult time.”
After services Wednesday, Brayden was buried at Murrah’s Chapel Cemetery. At the gravesite this morning, an arrangement of sunflowers, lilies, roses and ferns sat beside a sky-blue crucifix and fresh mound of dirt.
Dispatch reporter Andrew Hazzard contributed to this report.
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