Life of Khalid Jabara remembered at funeral; friends call for justice
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) -- Mourners started arriving at St. Antony Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church two hours before the service began.
They were friends and family of 37-year-old Khalid Jabara, a man reportedly killed out of hate, but who they say personified love.
"I remember, I was a few years younger than him, I remember looking up to him; he was the funniest guy," said Matthew Eber, who grew up with Khalid in a church youth group. "He had all of these voices and impressions he would do, and he was just a riot."
Eber said he thinks the family is still in shock.
"They're still struggling to understand what happened," he said. "How it got to this point. And I think they're still looking for answers."
His alleged killer, Stanley Major, was a next door neighbor who family members say had a history of spewing hateful, racist comments toward the family. Major had previously run over Jabara's mother with his car, resulting in months of medical procedures.
"I mean, the guy's not all there," said Father George Eber of St. Antony's, the Orthodox Christian church that Khalid belonged to. Despite that, Majors reportedly perceived the family to be Muslim.
Matthew Eber said religion is often used as "a scapegoat."
"Whether it was done because of someone's bigotry, someone's hatred, whatever someone's perceptions are, that's something I can't understand," he said. "Evil basically swindles and takes over religious ideals as a way to club somebody else."
Painted as a death due to intolerance, friends of Jabara want his death to be intolerable to our sense of justice.
"We all have to stand up against hate," Matthew Eber said.
