A funeral for 21-year-old Hofstra student Andrea Rebello was held Wednesday. Sadly, there are still more questions than answers regarding her tragic death last Friday during a home invasion.
The funeral was held at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Over 40 young women, all dressed in black, climbed the steps to the church in unison, prompting many tears from the onlookers. There were around 350 mourners in attendance.
"She was a wonderful person and wonderful sister," a friend of Andrea's for 16 years told WCBS 880 reporter Sophia Hall. "She was close to the Portuguese community. She was an example for all of the kids. I don't know. There's no words to describe and it's so sad."
Rebello's death has caused a fair amount of controversy ever since news first broke of the incident. A police officer who was responding to a call at her house has since been found to have accidentally killed Rebello while in a shootout with her assailant.
"To those who second guess, walk a day in our shoes and see how easy your decision would have been that day," Nassau County Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President James Carver said. "Our job is to get inside and make sure we can protect as many people as we can."
At around 2 a.m. on Friday morning, Rebello, her sister, and two other individuals were at her house when an armed intruder entered Rebello's residence. Eventually, he let Rebello's sister go, but kept the others in the house at gunpoint. It was at that point that the officer in question entered the house.
"He went into the house, he deemed it was not appropriate to wait at that time. If he would have waited, we don't know what could have happened," Carver said, noting that the person responsible for Rebello's death was "the ex-con who was on parole."
It has been reported that when the officer entered the residence, the gunman, 30-year-old Dalton Smith, had Rebello in a headlock and was threatening to kill her. When Smith turned the gun on the officer, the policeman fired back, hitting Smith 7 times and tragically, Rebello once. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.