400 pay respects to Cupertino shooting victim

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- On Tuesday night in San Jose, hundreds of people honored one of the victims of last week's shooting rampage in Cupertino. They came to remember a man many in attendance knew and some had never met, but they all feel the loss.

At the rosary held a week after the shooting, it all still hadn't sunk in yet for the mourners who came to pay their respects to Manuel Pinon -- the father of four killed during the Cupertino quarry rampage. His daughter, Salina Pinon, remembered her father.

"I'm very grateful and proud to call you my dad and deep inside my heart is where you'll always be," said Salina.

His brother Jerry Pinon spoke to the suddenness of it all.

"Not being able to say good-bye to my brother, our brother. Yeah, it hurts, it hurts, but we've got to move on and thanks for everybody's support," said Jerry.

"We just appreciate it and we just ask that everyone say good-bye and say I love you to your loved one because you never know if that's going to be the last time," said Luz Brown, Manuel's aunt.

Many of Manuel's co-workers showed up at the Oak Hill Funeral Home in San Jose.

"I'm here and I look around and I know why everybody's here. Manny was the kindest, sweetest, gentlest man you could ever know," said Joaquin Dias, a co-worker.

Pinon was among three workers killed and six wounded at the Lehigh Cement Plant last week after co-worker Shareef Allman went on a shooting spree. An autopsy report now says Allman committed suicide by shooting himself in the head as deputies opened fire during Thursday's confrontation in Sunnyvale.

Family members offered prayers for the Pinon's killer.

"And the guy who take care of him, who killed him, God bless him," said Quentin Aguilar, Manuel's father-in-law.

"We feel that his family is also suffering a loss and we ask that peace be with them," said Brown.

From friends to relatives, to co-workers to those who hadn't kept in touch for years, more than 400 people paid their respects. Hundreds are expected for the funeral Wednesday morning.

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