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Numerous friends of the family spoke to the crowd about remembering the lives of the young men and the joy they brought to so many. Others asked the community members not to judge Thurmon Herring, the boys’ father, who has been charged with first-degree murder.

‘‘This was a dedicated father,” said Mark Larkins, who taught Jeremy Herring in martial arts.

Larkins said that Jeremy and Justin, both graduates of John F. Kennedy High School, were good role models because of their mother and father.

‘‘If you ever saw the four of them together, you would understand the love they had for each other,” he said.

The family attended the Georgia Avenue Baptist Church in Glenmont and the pastor of the church, Ellis Moore, came to the vigil to pray. ‘‘I just know that two precious young men are no longer with us,” Moore said. ‘‘Our hearts just go out to them, the mother, the father. ... It’s a great shock to us and we don’t have answers, so we don’t try to find answers.”

Neighbor Dolores McQueen, who stood outside the Herrings’ townhouse for hours July 30 trying to find out what had happened, also attended the vigil and said she was in disbelief that Thurmon Herring could have done what he was accused of.

‘‘I [saw] his smile every day and he was a nice man,” McQueen said.

She also called Jeremy Herring a ‘‘prominent black leader” in the community.

‘‘I wish he could see this, to see how much we care about him,” she said about the growing crowd of mourners.

Gilly Sharpnack, a cashier at Olney Swim Center, worked closely with Justin Herring for almost three years, during which time she said they became good friends and shared their love for music.

Both Jeremy and Sharpnack had sung in their church choir.

‘‘It hit me very hard and still is,” Sharpnack said Thursday in a phone interview. ‘‘I’m not sleeping too good right now.”

Sharpnack described Justin as shy, but cordial and very kind. She said his mother must have taught him to be courteous because he called her ‘‘ma’am,” until she told him that he could call her by her first name.

‘‘He had a very, very nice smile and it beamed from ear to ear,” she said. ‘‘If he didn’t talk, he would smile at you.”

A group of people, some high school classmates and other prominent figures in the community, also addressed the crowd at the vigil. They urged community members to look out for one another and set a good example for each other.

‘‘You’re crying tonight,” said Kerry D. Walker, who lives in the community and runs a nonprofit for at-risk youth. ‘‘What are you going to do tomorrow? We [have] to make changes now.”

Walker also led the crowd in a chant for the brothers, which included Jeremy Herring’s nickname ‘‘Black.” Later the crowd chanted, ‘‘Black is Ballin’,” in reference to Jeremy’s success in basketball.

Ivan Bachabi, who graduated from Kennedy High School in June, asked those grieving to live by the Herring brothers’ example.

‘‘Every day, just remember them ... pray for their father, their mother and their family.”