Funeral Held for Hockey Dad
July 11 -- A funeral was held today for a Massachusetts father of four who police say was beaten to death by another man following a dispute over a hockey game in which their sons were playing.
Michael Costin, 40, of Lynnfield, died Friday, two days after being injured in the brawl at a hockey rink in front of severalyoungsters. Thomas Junta, 42, of Reading, Mass., has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges in Costin’s death and is free on $5,000 bond.
Costin’s three sons and daughter, ages 9 to 12, wept during thehourlong funeral that drew more than 200 people. At the funeral, mourners urged parents to control their anger for their children’s sake.
“We really have to take a look at sports and the parents haveto take a good look at themselves,” said mourner Brian Mahoney,49, whose children played with Costin’s. Tom Grilk, who coached one of Costin’s sons in hockey, said he took his own 10-year-old twin sons to the funeral “for them to be part of this time and show support for the familyand, in some small way, to understand the horror of anger gonewrong.”
Son Crawled in Casket
Gene Ellison, a friend of Costin, told ABCNEWS’ Good Morning America that the death has been hard on the community, the victim’s children and especially his mother, who had lost another son in a stabbing.
“Anytime without any reason anyone is brutally murdered like this, you just sit there and shake your head,” Ellison said.
Ellison said he attended a somber evening wake for Costin on Monday, but he was told the afternoon wake was more trying.
“It was a very sad situation,” Ellison said. “Michael’s son crawled up into the casket with him. It was actually a difficult time for a lot of people.”
Children Witnessed Beating
Costin died after July 7, two days after he became involved in a dispute with Junta at a rink in Reading, police say. Costin had been out on the ice supervising a group of youngsters, including his three sons and Junta’s son.
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