There was no 21-gun salute.

There had been enough trouble with guns.

Photo courtesy of Villain Pictures (ENLARGE)

Joy Deleston with her son, Anthony Tyrone Terrell, 17, and daughters, Micaiah, 11, and Jelani, 4, at a late 2007 screening of the movie 'Riff, ' in which she had a role. Terrell was charged with murder for allegedly killing his mother and sisters inside the family home on Feb. 28, 2008.

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Gwinnett County Sheriff's Deputy Joy Deleston and her two daughters Micaiah, 11, and Jelani, 4, were laid to rest quietly Saturday on her childhood home of James Island, S.C., outside Charleston.

Windswept marshland grasses and towering live oaks provided a stunning backdrop to the small cemetery, where three gleaming white caskets topped with sprays of white orchids and pink roses were lowered into the ground.

The burial was preceded by a spirited "celebration of life" at First Baptist Church on James Island. Dozens of law enforcement officers from the Gwinnett and Charleston area joined more than 500 guests for the three-hour service.

In open caskets, Deleston, 39, could be seen wearing her deputy's uniform; the girls wore pearls and matching pale pink gowns of sheer organza.

Marie Barrett, Jelani's teacher at Kids "R" Kids preschool in Lawrenceville, spoke of the 4-year-old's chatterbox personality and love of dance.

Jelani's father, the rap star Juvenile whose real name is Terius Gray, did not attend the service.

Friends described Micaiah as the quiet one who loved assembling thousand-piece puzzles. Micaiah's father, Dominique Ross of Jacksonville, Fla, said she was ambitious, "just like her momma."

Deleston was a 7-year veteran of the Gwinnett Sheriff's Department.

Her only surviving child, 17-year-old Anthony Tyrone Terrell Jr., is in custody in DeKalb County jail, unable to attend the funeral because he faces murder charges in the family's shooting deaths. Police still do not know the motive, nor whether Deleston's service weapon was used in the slayings March 28.

Nathaniel Deleston, Joy Deleston's brother, broke down several times as he addressed a congregation that filled the sanctuary pews and spilled into an overflow room with metal folding chairs.

He tearfully admitted feeling "anger in his heart" when he learned of the shootings, but he admonished mourners not to judge Terrell.

"I am waiting for answers to our questions, but I trust God to give us our answers," Deleston said. "I'm not going to turn my back on my nephew."