More Than 1,500 Mourners Gather for Cipriano Funeral

Mourners who crowded into today to pay their final respects to Robert "Bob" Cipriano heard a message centered on forgiveness from the 52-year-old murder victim's son. 

Scores of cars were parked in the church lot well before the 10 a.m. visitation and 11 a.m. funeral service, and at least one school bus transported classmates of Bob Cipriano's twin sons Tanner and Salvatore from  in Novi. 

According to the Detroit News, a group of students were wearing blue and white school sweaters to show their support for the brothers. On Sunday night, WXYZ-TV covered a candlelight vigil at the school's athletic stadium, attended by hundreds of Catholic Central students and their families.

The Detroit Free Press reports that 17-year-old Tanner asked everyone to forgive his brother Tucker, 19, and Tucker's friend Mitchell Young, 20, who stand accused in the brutal April 16 attack that left Bob Cipriano dead and injured Tanner's mother Rosemary, 51, and Salvatore, 17. They remain in critical condition at .

Tanner and his 8-year-old sister Isabella were not injured. 

over the past nine days have called him a devoted father whose family was the center of his life. Tanner Cipriano confirmed those feelings in his eulogy, saying his father never gave up on Tucker "because of love". 

In , the family asked that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to "Cipriano Childrens Trust" in care of , 31950 West Twelve Mile Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48334.