Police vigilant at the funeral of slain New Bedford woman

NEW BEDFORD-- As mourners placed flowers on Bernadette DePina's casket at St. John's Cemetery, a plainclothes New Bedford police officer, handgun in his holster, paced nearby on the freshly tilled soil, eyeing the crowd.

Police officers also stood guard around Our Lady of the Assumption Church as it filled with people, with some officers at the base of the steps leading to the church, others on sidewalk corners. And when the funeral procession left for the cemetery, the hearse and the black limosine carrying the DePina family were trailed by an unmarked white police cruiser.

Those who loved Bernadette DePina and law enforcement officials were determined to keep New Bedford's gang wars from spilling into the simple Catholic funeral Mass, where they said goodbye to the 49-year-old grandmother and prison minister. Prosecutors say her death on May 25 may have been the work of a gang retaliating for the slaying of a man in a city housing project, a killing of which her son stands accused.

The scene created an unusual tableau: in the church, women in long black dresses softly crying and a guitar quartet strumming folksy religious songs. Outside, more than 50 officers, many in dark glasses, watched warily.

``The stones of rage and retaliation, we must not throw them," said the Rev. Stanley Kolasa, pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Church, during his homily at the Mass, which drew approximately 700 people.

Kolasa was followed by Dorothy Lopes, Bernadette DePina's friend since childhood. ``She had a flair for fashion and a penchant for lottery tickets, and she loved oatmeal cookies and fudge brownies," Lopes said warmly. ``The prison ministry, it was an important commitment in Bernadette's life."

Her son, David P. DePina II, remains in custody on murder charges and was not permitted to attend the service. He was allowed to privately attend his mother's wake on Wednesday.

By 9 a.m., the scheduled start of the funeral, every seat had been taken, and latecomers were lining the side aisles of the 101-year-old church, the oldest Cape Verdean Catholic church in the country. Kolasa invited those standing to join the clergy sitting at the front of the church or take a seat on the floor, briefly drawing laughter from the somber crowd.

Watching the procession depart, Bristol Sheriff Thomas Hodgson recalled DePina as one of the first people to volunteer for his eight-year-old prison ministry program. She would visit the Dartmouth House of Correction or the Ash Street Jail at least once a week, he said, to counsel the inmates and read them passages from the Bible.

``Her loss will also be felt inside those facilities, because she was able to reach a lot of people behind bars," Hodgson said. ``But maybe her death, maybe it ends up being the thing that shines light on the path to those she has come in contact with."

DePina, who was shot inside her home, was the second victim of homicide in New Bedford this year. Justin Barry -Henderson , the man her son is accused of killing, was the first. Police are well-acquainted with retaliatory violence between groups of young men, but the shooting of a middle-aged grandmother to avenge a killing allegedly committed by her son was unheard of.

``I'm not naïve [enough] to think that we wouldn't have a homicide this year, but the circumstances surrounding these two deaths are extremely disturbing," said Mayor Scott Lang, who sat quietly in the back during the funeral. ``It changed the dynamic, because inevitably there's an assumption that it was done for retaliation and that another attempt on someone's life is possible."

Fear of more violence has caused police to deploy additional patrols, not only to guard the DePina family, but also Barry -Henderson's parents, who Lang said have received death threats. He said they have told authorities they fear they may be next.