Baton Rouge - Baton Rouge police officer Montrell Jackson’s pleas for the city to unite and “don’t let hate infect your heart” echoed Monday throughout the funeral service that grieved a man who only four months earlier had been celebrating the birth of his son.

Jackson wrote those words days before he was shot to death, in a Facebook post that described the difficulties of being both a black man and a police officer. His younger brother, Kedrick Pitts, repeated the words again at Jackson’s funeral.

“All I wanted to do was be like you,” Pitts said, speaking to his brother. “Now I can brag about you being an angel.”

Then, he told the overflowing church: “God bless you all. Don’t let hate infect your heart.”... Read More: VIN