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Oakland Homicide Victim's Organ Donation Saves Lives

OAKLAND (CBS SF) - There was both joy and grief in the East Bay over the Christmas holiday weekend. Lives were saved thanks to organ donations from a young man gunned down just days earlier in Oakland.

Authorities say Charles Butler, Jr., was fatally shot while driving home from a store on Dec. 22. His liver was subsequently given to a man in San Francisco, while other organs were being harvested for donation - including his heart, pancreas, kidneys and lungs.

"I thought it was going to be an awful time but it's time now to be something really special, something that I'll always remember," Butler's sister reflected at a memorial service for her brother on Christmas day.

At the service, a video played of Butler's recent graduation from the Maritime Academy.

"Little did we know," a pastor told the audience at a Richmond Church, "that this week we as a church family would experience such a loss."

KCBS' Tim Ryan Reports:

There was no early word on a motive, and no arrests had been made as of Monday morning.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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