Shanice Chisely, the daughter of Agnes Hicks was appalled by the priest’s behavior.
“He literally got on the mic and said, ‘there will be no funeral, there will be no mass, no repass. Everyone get the hell out of my church.”
Chisely said Briese’s behavior was unsettling and disrespectful.
“He disrespected our family, he disrespected my mother. He called my mother ‘a thing.’ He said, ‘get this thing out of my church! Everyone get the hell out of my church!’ . . . I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Another daughter, Renetta Baker, called Briese “the devil.”
Briese was not done, though. After stopping the funeral, he called the police. Upon arriving, the officers found a stream of mourners leaving the church building with the casket. They were equally confused by the priest’s strange request and took no action against family members. Instead, they provide mourners with an escort to another church outside the county where they were able to finish the funeral service.
