Mourners bid farewell to slain AmeriCorps volunteer from Matteson - 18-year-old Joseph Massenburg was a troubled black boy with a checkered past as he attempted to turn his life around he was murdered by another black boy with a checkered past

RULE #1 - Never volunteer for anything!

Over soaring notes from a church organ, Matteson pastor Andre Massenburg delivered a howling, gospel-tinged eulogy for his son Wednesday.

An AmeriCorps volunteer, 18-year-old Joseph Massenburg was gunned down last week just a few blocks from the headquarters of a New Orleans not-for-profit where he worked. He is the first homicide victim in the organization's 20-year history.

The elder Massenburg told more than 300 mourners that his son was a mischievous teen who found direction through a military-style high school program and the volunteer training he had started just a few months before he was killed.

"He said, 'Dad, I won't let you down,'" Massenburg said. "It finally sunk into him. He finally grew up on the inside. ... He called every day and said, 'Mom, I'm going to make you proud.'"

On April 1, Joseph Massenburg had been talking on his cellphone in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans about 11 p.m. when he was shot multiple times. He died an hour later at a hospital, police said.

New Orleans police have made no arrests and offered a $5,000 reward for information about the shooting. Massenburg had been working for about three weeks with Greenlight New Orleans, a group that helps needy people with energy-efficiency measures.

The church was packed with mourners, among them the head of the Corporation for National and Community Service and nearly 20 AmeriCorps volunteers who served with the teen.

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