‘No act of violence will claim victory’: mother-daughter shooting victims laid to rest after emotional funeral service

Hundreds of people turned out today to pay their respects today to mother and daughter shooting victims Tanya and Danielle Lawrence, who died last Sunday night in their Wading River home, in this community’s most horrific incident of domestic violence in memory.

The sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Riverhead was filled to capacity for visitation and funeral services this morning. The caskets were placed at the front of the sanctuary for viewing of the reposing mother and child by mourners who filed past.

A stoic Tony Lawrence, father and ex-husband, stood in front, embracing visitors one by one, as family members, including stepson Jamal Pines and daughter, Brandy Lawrence, sat in the first several rows of pews nearby. The long procession of mourners included scores of faculty, staff and students at Riverhead Central School District, where Tony Lawrence works as a physical education teacher and Danielle attends high school.

It was an emotional two hours for family and friends, leading up to a funeral service that was purposefully joyous — a celebration of their lives and of the promise of eternal life, a worship service offering praise to God even in the saddest times of human life.

“We give you thanks,” Assistant Pastor Cynthia Liggon said in prayer. “We thank you for these lives. We thank you for who they were, because you are the giver and sustainer of life. It was you, O God, who crafted them molded them, who shaped them and made them who they were. It was you, O God, who gave them their laughter and their smiles and their ability to love and love unconditionally.”

Remembering Tanya’s giving nature and Danielle’s poetic spirit and musical gifts, she prayed, “Even in the midst of tragedy, you speak. There is no life that has not had a purpose — no matter how brief. We cannot question your purpose for them, though there are questions that may not be answered. Now, we ask for peace,” she said.

“No act of violence will claim victory.”

“What you have seen here are two lovely containers,” the Rev. Charles Coverdale, senior pastor at First Baptist told the crowd, referring to the deceased mother and child, who both looked beautiful and at peace, resting in their satin-lined caskets.

“But their spirits are not there. Their souls are not there,” the pastor said. “This is an opportunity to view them and be circumspect about your own life and your own destiny. It is an opportunity for Pastor Coverdale to preach, to say there is a God,” he said, his voice rising, “that there is hope for all of us who live.”

Tanya Lawrence, 43, and her daughter Danielle, 17, were shot and killed in their home by Thomas Calhoun, 44, who then turned the weapon on himself and took his own life, according to Suffolk County police. Tanya’s younger daughter, Brandy, 14, escaped from the home uninjured. A police dispatcher told her to run out of the house, and she followed those instructions, saving her life, said the Rev. Isidore Galante, pastor of Life in the Spirit Christian Fellowship, the Lawrence family’s home church.

“Some come knowing they are in a safe place,” Coverdale said. “Some come questioning in their hearts.”

Coverdale recalled his first meeting years ago with Tony and Tanya, when they first moved to Riverhead. He remembered a young couple with a young family and a lifetime of hopes and dreams ahead of them.

“Things don’t always turn out the way we plan,” the pastor said. “But God has a greater purpose in everything.”

Musical selections were performed by the First Baptist Church choir under the direction of Rosa Palmore, including “I’m Trading My Sorrows,” a praise medley and “I’ll be Waiting Up Yonder.”

“No matter how tragically life ends down here,” Coverdale said, “God has a place for each and every one of us in heaven.”

Interment followed at Washington Memorial Park in Coram.

Top photo caption: A pair of hearses bearing the caskets of Tanya Lawrence and her daughter Danielle leave First Baptist Church in Riverhead this afternoon. (Photo: Denise Civiletti)