6 Years After Deadly Home Invasion, Demitri Hampton Remembered

FLANDERS, NY — Six long years have passed since Demitri Hampton, 21, was gunned down and killed during a brutal home invasion in Flanders, and the heartbreak and grief still echo.

At Suffolk County Community College, where Hampton was both a student and a member of the Black Male Network & Black Male Associates Network before he was killed, a bench and tree were re-dedicated to him recently.

The event, said James Banks, coordinator of multicultural affairs at SCCC, was a celebration and re-dedication of the bench for "young Mr. Demitri Hampton, one of the founding members" of the Black Male Network & Black Male Associates Network. "He was killed in his home trying to protect his family. We have dedicated this bench to him and now we are re-dedicating an updated version so the celebration and honoring of him can go on."

The bench and tree, Banks said, were purchased by students. "The dates of his abbreviated time with us and his family and friends were far too short," he said.

Banks said at every meeting of the Black Male Network, to this day, there is still a moment of silence for Hampton.

On Jan. 27, 2013, police responded to 200 Priscilla Avenue in Flanders after a 911 caller reported that armed men had broken into the home and shot the young man, a Riverhead High School graduate, according to Suffolk County Police.

When police arrived, they found Hampton with a gunshot wound to his chest, according to police. Hampton was pronounced dead at the hospital.

"They took my little brother for no reason," Hampton's sister Jennifer Nicole Davis said in 2013. "They took my little baby from me."

Messiah Booker of Mastic Beach man allegedly shot and killed Hampton, 21, during the 2013 home invasion, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said. Booker was charged with second degree murder and first degree burglary but pleaded guilty to second degree burglary in 2017 and was sentenced to five years in prison after a botched case by the prosecution, according to the Riverhead News-Review.

In October, 2016, Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives arrested Michael Parrish, 26, of Coram, Danielle Hall, 39, of Calverton, and Corry Wallace, 40, of Riverhead,police said. All three were charged with second degree murder, according to police. The three ultimately pleaded guilty to felony burglary charges and were later sentenced in 2017, the News-Review post said.

In the dark days since his death, Hampton's family has chosen to focus not on the heartbreak, but, instead, on his beautiful life and spirit, hosting fundraisers to benefit a scholarship fund in his memory.

Banks, too, has vowed to keep Hampton's memory alive.

"At my diversity workshops I frequently show pictures of Martin Luther King and Trayvon Martin both with hoodies on," Banks said. "Demitri, like these two men, had his his life taken much too early, taking away from the many contributions he may have made to the world. Demitri was, and is, a hero who stood up by defending his family — as they were being robbed, he fought back in his house. Too often, young African American men are taken away before their time. They are lost to us all," Banks said. "It is because of things like police brutality, gang violence, and inequities in the criminal justice system and recidivism rates in our criminal justice system and prisons."

The time has come, Banks added, for young people "to stand up — or kneel — to defend against the distasteful violence that the people of this nation are subject to."

And for those who might doubt that one person or small group of people can make a difference, Banks told the story of an 11-year old in Buffalo who decided to let his beliefs be known by kneeling during the National Anthem. At first, he was ridiculed for his actions; his father, however, went to the school and said he was there not to discuss whether it was right or wrong to kneel during the National Anthem but instead, to speak about treatment of his son and his son's First Amendment rights.

Fast forward: The school has now changed its policy, Banks said.

Hampton, Banks said, was active in the Black Male Network and Black Male Associates Network; when he died, students mourned and the bench and tree were placed outside Banks' office in Hampton's honor.

The bench was damaged by weather so a new one was purchased, Banks said. A bell had originally been placed on the first bench, with the sign, "Ring the bell for Demitri," but the bell was stolen, he said.

Banks said students have pledged that Hampton will be honored as long as the group is in existence, and "as long as I am in existence." In his office at Suffolk County College, there is a photo of Hampton.

"He was a fun-loving, honest young man who believed in his people and their potential and so he worked hard to help them," Banks said.

The two shared a close bond; Hampton even began to duplicate Banks' signature suspenders. "He was funny; he had a good sense of humor," Banks said. "It was a great loss."

(Courtesy Demitri Hampton's family)

For his family, the unspeakable pain resonates still, the grief and sadness a reality they live with every minute, every day of their lives.

"We really miss him," Hampton's sister Davis told Patch in 2016. "We are still mourning the loss of him. Not a day goes by that we don't think about him."

She added: "Demitri was a student at Suffolk County Community College. He was very motivated to let kids know if he could do it, everyone else could, too. He wanted to spread awareness about getting into college." Her brother loved sports, especially football and basketball.

Despite his dreams for a bright future, Hampton's life ended on a bitterly cold night when he died at the hands of the gunmen who burst into the Flanders residence. "Everything got cut short," Davis said. "We wanted to keep his dreams alive."

Davis' heart broke with memories as she said she longed to hear her baby brother's voice just one more time.

"I just really miss my brother. He was a beautiful young man with a lot of love and joy in his heart. He loved his family and his friends and he will forever be our hero. Demitri will forever live on in all of us. I miss his laugh and his smile," she said.

Describing him after his death, Davis remembered the young man loved by so many. "He was a character," she said. "He made everyone laugh. He just always wanted to laugh and joke and play. He was a good kid. He was a goofball."

Taking care of him when he was younger, Davis said she made sure he was ready for school each day.

"We used to play with little toy cars," she said; Davis also remembered laughter-filled holidays spent singing karaoke with her brother.

Hampton, she said, adored his family, including his older brother Jamal and little cousin Tisha.
The future, Davis said, was irrevocably altered when her brother died — their lives were changed forever.

"I have a son and he won't ever get to play with his uncle," she said.

Her baby brother, Davis said, "had a lot of people that loved him. "They took away a good kid. It will never be the same."

His family, Davis said, wants to keep the flame of her brother's memory burning bright — and the memories of his life alive. "I don't want Demitri to be a victim," she said. "I want to keep his legacy alive — he was a hero."