"Jesus is the only answer."

First funeral held in South Alabama killings

Michael McLendon, 28, shot and killed 10 people, including five of his family members before committing suicide at a metals plant where he used to work. Six people were gunned down at his uncle's house -- two blocks away from where Jenkins lives.

Sonya Smith, 42, was shot and killed as she walked out of a Big Little Stores gas station in Samson on Tuesday. Mourners remembered her as a loving wife and mother of three who wouldn't hesitate before helping someone in need.

  

"We're all asking how could a deranged gunman come and bring so much pain, so much grief to our community," Rev. Donnie Earls told the hundreds gathered for Smith's funeral at Shady Grove Assembly of God Church in Coffee Springs.

"Even in times like this -- in horrific times -- only God has the answer," he said.

Mourners in this rural Bible Belt community said burying the people who were taken from them so suddenly and violently was the first step toward moving forward, but it would take time.

Wade Smith said his wife of 16 years was the "backbone of our family," and losing her at the hand of a random killer made the pain even more difficult.

"Why didn't he just take his own life if he wanted to do anything and leave all these other families alone?" Smith said while holding his wife's photo and a red rose following her burial in the church cemetery.

It started raining as he spoke, and Smith said it felt like his wife was "crying down from heaven on everybody and all the families that are going through this."

"I got angry," he said, hugging the framed picture to his chest to keep it dry. "The sadness has turned to anger, so you've got to turn to Jesus. Jesus is the only answer."