'Most beautiful person I ever encountered.' Okaloosa Deputy Ray Hamilton laid to rest

Law enforcement officers from across the state of Florida and at least as far away as Fort Worth, Texas, converged upon the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center Saturday to say goodbye to Okaloosa County Deputy Ray Hamilton, who had been killed the week before doing, by all accounts, what he loved most.

Hamilton, a five year veteran of the force, was fatally shot on Christmas Eve after responding with his Special Response Team unit to a domestic violence call. He had just completed his first year with the team and recently had been promoted to the rank of corporal.

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"Ray was doing what he was meant to do. His lifelong dream of helping others was found as a public servant here in Okaloosa County," his wife Renee told those gathered for a celebration of life in a recorded message. "Ray went to work every day with so much respect and love for his profession."

Hamilton's humility, his compassion, his iron will, his love of family and his endearing personality were celebrated in equal measure by the several speakers who stood to speak of a life cut short at the age of 34. Saturday would have been he and Renee's eighth wedding anniversary.

"Ray always said 'I want to change the world with kindness,'" Renee Hamilton said. "He was my best friend, the love of my life, my Prince Charming, the best part of me and my eternal soul mate. It's OK to mourn this tragic event. It hurts so much because he loved us so much. All I ask from you when you raise a glass tonight to start the new year (is) that your New Year's resolution is to be more like Ray."

There were easily 750 people in attendance at the event, the vast majority wearing the uniform of law enforcement. Sheriff Eric Aden said that he'd received calls from across the state and nation. The Walton County Sheriff's Office sent deputies to cover patrol shifts so that Okaloosa deputies could attend the solemn ceremony.

Gov. Ron DeSantis had ordered the U.S. and Florida flags half-staff at the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office in Crestview, Okaloosa County Courthouse in Crestview and City Hall of Crestview.

"Corporal Hamilton will be remembered for his selfless courage to protect the lives of others at the cost of his own," DeSantis wrote in his order.

Okaloosa County chose to honor the fallen deputy by lowering the flags at all county-maintained buildings.

Following the service, a procession of hundreds of police vehicles began a trek to Crestview where a ceremony that included presentations, taps, a 21-gun salute and the last call for a fallen officer were to take place. A large group of motorcyclists followed the procession. Organizers of the "Ride for Ray" promoted it by calling for "enough bikes that it shakes Ray's feet in heaven."

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How was Hamilton killed?

Hamilton and the Special Response Team were called out on Christmas Eve morning to face down a man with a known criminal record and likely armed who had barricaded himself inside a home on North Park Boulevard.

As Hamilton and two other officers positioned themselves behind a back yard fence, the man, later identified as 43-year-old Timothy Price Williams, fired from inside the residence, striking Hamilton in the head. The officer would die that afternoon at a nearby hospital.

Renee Hamilton said the second question she'd asked Sheriff Eric Aden when she met him at the hospital following the shooting was whether anyone else had been injured. That, she said, is what her husband would have wanted to know.

"His only concern would have been was whether everybody else made it home safe," she said.

Price-Williams, 43, was himself wounded as he exited the townhome from which he had fired. He suffered a minor injury and now faces a charge of first degree premediated murder.

Hamilton becomes the sixth Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office officer killed in the line of duty, the fifth since 2008. All of the deaths since the earliest one in 1923 have been the result of shots fired as officers responded to domestic violence or mental health-related calls.

More:Flags at half staff Saturday to honor fallen Okaloosa County deputy

Hamilton had left the nursing profession after losing a friend to an overdose, a friend, Dan Martin, told those gathered.

"He went into law enforcement because he never wanted anybody to go through that," he said.

Aden said the Sheriff's Office right away saw in Hamilton attributes that would make him special as a deputy. His first assignment, in 2017, was as a crime scene investigator. He moved within two years to become a field training officer and, according to the sheriff, was "probably the best field training officer we've ever had at this agency."

In the relatively short time he spent as an Okaloosa County deputy Hamilton had received two Life Saving Awards.

Everyone who spoke recalled Hamilton's smile and friendly way of making everyone feel like the most important person in the room.

Friend Caden Downing called Hamilton "the most beautiful person I ever encountered."

"He was a wonderful husband and an absolute warrior," Downing said.

Aden said that Hamilton's death will forever change the Okaloosa Sheriff's Office approach to the Christmas season, but that he had personally gathered the strength to push through by leaning on Hamilton's family through preparations for Saturday's event.

"We will get through this," he said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Okaloosa deputy Ray Hamilton is laid to rest following fatal shooting