OAKLAND — More than 2,000 people — members of Oakland's Eritrean community and friends from everywhere — said goodbye Saturday to three members of an Eritrean family, gunned down at a Thanksgiving Day dinner.

It was a lengthy, haunting, Tewahdo Orthodox Church ceremony, conducted in Tigrigna, the native language of Eritrea and Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. It ended with eulogies from two Berkeley High students and a tutor to Yonas Tesfamariam Mehari, 17, a Berkeley High senior and the youngest of three family members who died.

Dying with him were his mother, Rigbe G/Michael, 50, and his sister, Winta Mehari, 28.

The almost three-hour ceremony was held at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension. The cathedral was filled with mourners, including many women wearing white shawls and head coverings. One of the two surviving sons, who jumped out of a third-story window of the family apartment in the 5300 block of Telegraph Avenue to save his life but broke his back, was wheeled into the cathedral draped entirely in white.

The three caskets were closed and draped with flowers. During the ceremony, priests circled the caskets many times.

After an hour of funeral music, including refrains and wrenching Eritrean melodies with the entire audience standing, there were poems read by family survivors, a eulogy in Tigrigna by a cousin, and finally a salute from Berkeley High. Carlos Bustamante, who tutored Yonas from his

first day at Berkeley High, said he was extremely bright, mastered mathematics and was loved by everyone. He had a special ability to pull people together, Bustamante said. He worked hard at unifying Berkeley High students from Eritrea and neighboring Ethiopia, two countries practically at war, he said.

Classmates Mabael Kimble and Khushbu Neupane saluted Yonas. He will always be with us, they said.

The bodies will be sent to Asmara, Eritrea, where a burial ceremony is planned for Wednesday at Adi Gombolo, Eritrea.

Two men have been arrested and charged with murder: Asmeron Tewolde Gebnreselassie, 43, and his brother, Tewodros Tewolde Gebnreselassie, 39.

Police said the suspects had been upset with Winta Mehari and other family members since their brother, Abraham G., Tewolde, 42, died March 1 in Berkeley. Winta Mehari was Abraham's widow.

Contact William Brand at bbrand@angnewspapers.com.