Two young girls shot dead by their father, laid to rest (photos)

Around 15,000 people were at Cisterna di Latina's Collina dei Pini church in Rome, Italy last Friday for the funeral of Alessia and Martina, two sisters aged eight and 14 who were shot dead by their father last week.

The father, Carabinieri police officer Luigi Capasso, who also took his own life, shot and critically injured his wife Antonietta Gargiulo, the mother of the murdered girls.

Gargiulo is in intensive care and was not able to attend the girls' funeral.

The priest presiding over the funeral was heckled during the service after calling for prayers for the father too.

"Excuse me, but the family has forgiven (him), There has been forgiveness and the family is at peace", the priest said.

"You aren''t Christian if you don't forgive," he continued.

The priest said the girls were "well known and liked" in the community.

Their mother prayed in the IC unit of Rome's San Camillo Hospital while the funeral was going on.