Drive by Funerals: Are They The Wave of The Future?

A Chicago funeral home has set up a drive-thru service with cameras and a sound system that lets on-the-go visitors pay their respects, sign the funeral register and view the remains of the loved one round the clock without ever leaving the car. Folks line up at the drive thru at Gatling’s Funeral Home on the city’s South Side to see the images of embalmed friends and relatives on a television screen covered by a white canopy that is lit up at night.

 Adams funeral parlor, a well known mortuary in Compton since 1974, brings to the business of death a new convenience : drive-thru viewing of the dead. while close family and friends may enter the viewing rooms, There is the added convenience of a drive thru featuring a glass partition to view the deceased.

New Roads, Louisiana boasts the drive thru funerals at the Point Coupee Funeral Home

 These mortuary drive thru”s are popular for gang members funerals. Due to a a rash of shootings at gang funerals, The bullet proof glass is a popular feature for those that are fearful of being shot when they come to pay their respects.  Six people were shot August 2nd 2009  at a Chicago funeral. The funeral was for a self admitted gang banger who died at the age 28 from obesity and heart trouble. According to the police a rival gang banger identified his target out side the funeral opened fire and then fired into the crowd as he fled. This has become a common occurrence and gang members funerals.

 A shootout at a mausoleum during a 2003 funeral sent hundreds of mourners and visitors at Inglewood Park Cemetery  in Los Angeles crouching or running for cover as bullets were fired by suspected gang members and police. 2 people were shot. 

 A funeral in Pomona Ca. was riddled with gunfire as gang members drove by the graveside service of a drive by shooting victim.

 Maybe there is a need for the protection of the drive thru funerals. However maybe there is more of a need to put an end to gang violence by handing out the death penalty more liberally. Then the killers may think twice about killing innocent mourners.