Shooting victim's family plead for end to violence

The family of a slain Calgary teenager buried on Tuesday is asking his friends not to retaliate for hisdeath.

Robbie Jones, 19, was shot early on themorning of Aug. 20 in front of the northeast Saddle Ridge home he shared with roommates.

"It was senseless, and it was ruthless, and it was unnecessary. I mean, I don't know what this beef stemmed from, and it will never make sense to us," said Sheila Jones, Robbie's cousin, after his funeral Tuesday.

Hundreds of young people attended the service, where relativesspoke out, pleading for an end to the violence.

"This has to be over. No other mother has to go through what we're going through," said aunt Lorna Pike tearfully, speaking on behalf of Jones's mother.

"She asked Robbie's friends for no retaliation, and they will respect her. So if those boys think they're coming back with retaliation, there is none."

Police have said they believe Jones was targeted. Jones's friends told CBC News he was not a member of a gang, but he did have enemies.

Investigatorsare probing links between thedeath and two other Calgary shootings. Kevin Anaya, Jones's friend, was fatally shot outside a Marlborough home on Aug. 9 in a daylight attack.

'Robbie's mother says she just wishes she could take a bit of her pain and put it in these boys' mothers and maybe that would be enough to stop the violence.' Sheila Jones, cousin

Adam Cavanagh, 18, who shared common friends with the pair, was killed when someone fired a single shotthrough the basement window of his parents' northeast home in February 2007. Both cases are unsolved.

Sheila Jones also had a message on behalf of the family.

"Their request is that this be the end anybody that has information to come forward to police with that, to get an answer to this crime and the crimes related to it," she said.

"And Robbie's mother says she just wishes she could take a bit of her pain and put it in these boys' mothers and maybe that would be enough to stop the violence."

One young man, who grew up with Jones but refused to give his name, said he's not sure there will be peace.

"When people want to retaliate, when people have something in their mind, they're going to do it. Nothing is going to stop them. You know what I mean? It's just different now growing up. It's not like it used to be. It's harder to grow up."