CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A mourning University of North Carolina campus vowed Tuesday to continue the legacy of its slain student leader, who was shot to death and left on a street earlier this month.

An estimated crowd of 10,000 — including some wearing Carolina blue ribbons on clothing bearing symbols of Duke and N.C. State universities — attended the memorial service for Eve Carson held at the Dean E. Smith Center.

Sara D. Davis/Associated Press (ENLARGE)

About 8,000 people attended a memorial service in Chapel Hill, N.C., for Eve Carson, the University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carsonwas murdered on March 5.

Sara D. Davis/Associated Press (ENLARGE)

Attendees at the memorial service Eve Carson wore ribbons and a sticker in her name.

RELATED LINKS: Warrant: Eve Carson kidnapped from home 10,000 attend campus service for Carson | Photos Scholarships in memory of Carson, Lauren Burk Suspect in UNC slaying charged with killing Duke student | Video Photos of suspects | Video Carson remembered as "one of a kind"

Her father, Bob Carson, said in a statement through Dean of Students Melissa Exum that students should find solutions for the greatest needs of the world, including violence, prejudice and inequity.

"In the midst of his grief, Mr. Carson finds hope — hope that Eve's generation will solve some of the most the pressing problems of our time," Exum said.

Several of Eve's friends, wearing T-shirts that said "The world is our dance floor" in memory of her love for dancing, spoke about her ability to excite and to mentor. They described her with dozens of adjectives that ranged from sleep-deprived to motivating.

Seth Dearmin, a former student body president and a friend of Eve's, said "Eve was certainly more than a laundry list of superlatives."

"Let us today shed our last moments of silence for Eve," Dearmin said.

Others at the service included the Tar Heel basketball team and Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran, who has said the shooting was a random act of violence.

The 22-year-old Carson was fatally shot earlier this month. Murder charges have been filed against 17-year-old Laurence Lovette and 21-year-old Demario Atwater, both of Durham. Lovette is also charged with murder in the death of a Duke University graduate student.