to answer a query downthread, separate from the rest of this:

And given that he was in his sister’s arms (it’s unclear if it was his sister or aunt to my reading, given that “the deceased” now refers to two of them) and not, yknow, holding the funeral goers hostage, there were still options.

it appears the person he was in the arms of was definitively his aunt. CBS has the following details:

WBOY-TV reported that Evelyn O’Dell identified him as Jason Owens, the son of Junior Arnie Owens, whose funeral was held Wednesday. O’Dell is Junior Owens’ sister. […] “I’m distraught. I’m just totally upset,” O’Dell said. “I was getting ready to go lay my brother down in the ground and they shot his son. It’s a mess.”