At the corner of Findlay and Elm streets Friday, residents stood on the sidewalks outside New Prospect Baptist Church and talked about what will happen there today.

        Inside the modern brown brick building in Over-the-Rhine, a group of six men and women practiced gospel songs for a funeral service. Their rich voices created a sense of calm in the blue-carpeted sanctuary, backed with empty blue cushioned chairs.

        This is where Cincinnati will say goodbye to Timothy Thomas, the 19-year-old shot by Officer Steve Roach a week ago in Over-the-Rhine.

        Visitation begins at 11:30 a.m., with a service to follow at 1:30 p.m. Burial will be private.

        Different messages swirled around the church Friday afternoon.

        A man and a woman from Cincinnati Black United Front, the grass roots group started by the Rev. Damon Lynch III, pastor of New Prospect, stood outside church doors holding red-on-white signs that said “Come in” and “Open.”

        They did not want their names used but said the community wants the freedom to grieve in its own way today.

        The man said people should understand that friends of Mr. Thomas might arrive with bandanas on their heads or even with beer. Pouring beer in the street is a way to express sadness that their friend is not there to share it with them, he said.

        “The concern is no police force,” said the woman, dressed in a yellow Cincinnati Black United Front T-shirt. “If the police step back, we'll be fine.”

        A man drove by the church several times, holding a cardboard sign out the window that read, “Let the peace begin.”

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