Demitri Hampton remembered at candlelight vigil Thursday night

Family, friends, classmates and teachers huddled against the cold wind last night at Riverhead High School for a candlelight service in memory of Riverhead High School Class of 2010 graduate Demitri Hampton. See audio slideshow, below.

Hampton lost his life last weekend when armed robbers burst through the door of his Flanders residence in the middle of the night. (See report and follow-up story.) Hampton was shot as he struggled with the two masked men, who held his girlfriend and cousin at gunpoint.

The shooting death of the affable, friendly and funny young man stunned the Riverhead community.

Hampton was remembered last night with prayers, song, poetry and prose: his ever-present smile, his optimistic nature, his humor. Hampton was a charismatic young man of many talents and much promise, recalled his friends, trying to come to terms with the reality of a life cut short for no apparent reason.

“There is nothing more tragic than a life being taken away in its prime,” Schools Superintendent Nancy Carney said, her voice full of emotion. “There was so much in front of Demitri but he also has left us with so much: a joy and a beauty of what it is to embrace life, what it is to just cherish everything that we have in life,” she said.

Hampton’s death is “a reminder that we do need to cherish each and every day…learning how to treat everybody and each other with kindness, with respect,” Carney said.

“We have to join together to stop violence in this community,” implored the superintendent. “This has to stop. We can’t allow this in our community,” she said. “So I ask us, in losing somebody who gave so much that we, in Demitri’s name, we all work together as a community to put a stop to what’s going on.”

“Let’s light candles for Demitri and for all the joy he brought to so many lives,” Carney said.

Shakila Sikes read a poem written for the service:

Feel no guilt in laughter- he knows how much you care
Feel no sorrow in a smile — while he is not here to share
You cannot grieve forever— he would not want you to
He’d hope that you could carry on — the way you alwasy do
So talk about the good times and the way you showed you cared
the days you spent together or the happiness you shared
Let memories surround you
A word someone may say will suddenly recapture time, an hour, a day
that brings him back as clearly as though he were still here
and fills you with the feeling that he is always near
For if you keep those moments you will never be apart
and he will live forever
locked safely within your heart

Elder Albert Brown, associate minister of Galilee Church of God in Christ in Riverside, where Hampton was a parishioner, prayed for strength and peace for his family.

“We know You are able in time to fill the empty place in our lives that Demitri has left and that You’ll be able to strengthen us and comfort us tomight and in the days ahead,” Brown prayed.

Funeral services will be held tomorrow, Feb. 2 at Galilee Church of God in Christ in Riverside. Viewing: 10-11 a.m. Service 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. 

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Emil Breitenbach Jr.

{loadposition tab1}