The relatives of Shannon Whyte wept as they were asked not to take matters into their own hands during her funeral on Tuesday morning at Dennie's Funeral Home Chapel, Belmont.

In his sermon, Pastor Bernard Lewis urged grieving friends and relatives, “Vengeance doesn’t belong to us. Even though we like to take things into our own hands, at the end of the day vengeance belongs to no one. It belongs to God. What will be will be. God is the final judge.”

“We ask ourselves, ‘How could this happen? Why this happen?’

"God sees and knows even before it happens. We are faced with our enemy, which is death, and death is inevitable.”

Whyte's daughter's grandmother spoke of the way her death will change the lives of those she knew.

“Shannon brought light to my life in the form of my granddaughter.

"Her death will not go in vain. We know Shannon, we know what she would and wouldn’t do. Vengeance belongs to God. We just need to keep together and look out for her daughter.”

[caption id="attachment_900751" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A young boy embraces the grieving mother of Shannon Whyte, at Dennies Funeral Home Chapel in Belmont on Tuesday during the service. The Morvant mother was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head. - Photo by Marvin Hamilton[/caption]

Whyte's body was found submerged in a barrel of water at the Mon Repos, Morvant, home of a male relative on July 1.

When her body was removed from the barrel, police said she was holding a gun in her right hand. Her right elbow was bent and she was holding the gun with her thumb on the trigger.

Investigations into the death are ongoing, but from preliminary investigations police suspected Whyte died by suicide. They found a Glock 23 pistol with 20 rounds of .40 ammunition.

An autopsy revealed the mother of one died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Her family believes she was murdered.

Fewer than five people were at the service in person. Those who attended virtually continued to send condolences to the family and expressed shock at the news of her passing in the comments section of the livestream.

Whyte, 29, was described as an avid reader, who loved football and dancing as a child. She attended Success Laventille Secondary School and pursued a degree in marketing at COSTAATT.

[caption id="attachment_900752" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Tears for Shannon: The former Newsday employee was laid to rest by Dennie's Funeral Home Chapel in Belmont on Tuesday. - Photo by Marvin Hamilton[/caption]

Whyte, a former Newsday employee, was also remembered as a kind, gentle and special person. In a video tribute, her Newsday colleagues described her as someone who was always caring and full of life who loved to dress up for special occasions in the office.

Whyte’s stepmother Maureen Pierre-Joseph said in her eulogy, “Newsday formed an integral part of her life. The ability to meet and greet people brought her joy,”

“Her brother and sisters were seen as her bedrock…She was taken from us way too soon. But rest assured that your daug