Memorial service for slain North Carolina student leader draws 10,000

CHAPEL HILL (AP) — The father of the slain University of North Carolina student body president wants thousands of mourners to find solutions to the world’s violence, prejudice and inequity.

The shooting death of 22-year-old Eve Carson of Athens, Georgia, stunned the community. Carson’s body was found about a mile from the Chapel Hill campus earlier this month.

An estimated 10,000 people attended a memorial service at the campus basketball arena yesterday. Bob Carson did not speak but offered a statement challenging his daughter’s fellow students to tackle the world’s problems.

Several of Carson’s friends talked about her ability to excite and to mentor.

Seventeen-year-old Laurence Lovette and 21-year-old Demario Atwater of Durham are charged with murder in what police say was a random act.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)