A public viewing and funeral was scheduled for Friday at Fellowship Alliance Chapel, 199 Church Road in Medford.
Advertisement
One mourner who arrived early in the day, a 21-year-old fan, said she traveled all the way from Germany to say goodbye.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina identified her killer as Kevin James Loibl, 27, of St. Petersburg, Fla., who was waiting in the autograph line to see Grimmie after the show that night. A motive for the shooting has not been determined. Loibl shot and killed himself afterward.
Grimmie was buried in a private ceremony on Thursday. Pop star Adam Levine, who coached Grimmie while she was on the show, offered to pay the funeral expenses.
Grimmie is originally from Evesham Township, and attended Marlton Middle School and Cherokee High School before she moved to Los Angeles in 2012.
Grimmie often cited her mother’s ongoing battle with breast cancer as her inspiration, even during her first appearance on “The Voice” in 2014, where her mother sobbed in the wings at her rendition of Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball”.
Just hours later, another gunman would commit the nation’s deadliest mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and wounding more than 50.
Grimmie, whose career was launched after she posted videos of herself singing on YouTube, began working with professional music producers at age 16, the funeral home’s obituary said.
Today’s memorial takes place at Fellowship Alliance Chapel in Medford.
Advertisement
Family, friends and locals who knew and loved Christina Grimmie – a finalist on Season 6 of NBC’s “The Voice” and a Twitter sensation with a recent album deal – gathered at the chapel on Church Road for a memorial service, where thousands of visitors were expected to pay their respects.
