Sister of Man Shot in Flanders: 'They Took My Baby From Me'

After Demitri Hampton, 21, was shot and killed by armed intruders at his Flanders home early Sunday, his broken-hearted family was left searching for answers.

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

Growing up, Davis said, her mother, Juanita, often had to work, leaving Davis in charge of her younger brother, Demitri.

Describing him, Davis could barely speak through her tears. "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."

Hampton, she said, had graduated from Riverhead High School and was attending Suffolk County Community College.

While in high school, Hampton, who liked sports, played basketball with the Blue Waves and also enjoyed football, she said.

"He was just an all-around good kid," she said. "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. 

"He liked to hang out with his friends," she said. "He had a lot going for him."

Looking toward the future, Davis said her brother was "all over the place."

One minute he wanted to be like someone from 'CSI,' doing criminal scene investigation, she said; the next, he wanted to model and act. 

Reflecting on how her brother died, Davis said she was filled with anger.

"When I was growing up, my responsibility was to take care of my little brother -- that was the baby. I was like another mom. He was a good child."

Their family, Davis said, has seen tragedy in recent months, losing their grandmother last year.

Her mother, Davis said, is overwhelmed with grief over the loss of her youngest child.

The future, Davis said, was irrevocably altered Sunday morning when her brother lost his life.

"I have a 16-month-old son and he won’t ever get to play with his uncle," she said, sobbing. "I have a niece -- she loved her uncle. It's going to be hard. They took our baby from us."

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."