LEWISTON — It was a gray day and threatening rain, but the late Tuesday afternoon gloom seemed somehow appropriate for the matter at hand.

At the corner of Pierce and Walnut streets, dozens stood with candles in hand to pay respect to 4-year-old Jasper Kyle Smith, who died of a gunshot wound inside his home early Saturday morning.

They left teddy bears, Beanie Babies and other trinkets at the side of the apartment house where Jasper had lived. Some children even parted with their own toys in an effort to give Jasper the best send off they could.

A 13-year-old girl named Madison was one of those.

“How does something like this even happen to a 4-year-old?” she asked.

Her mother, Amy Turner, clutching a stuffed animal of her own, struggled to answer. What do you tell a child about such a terrible thing?

“I want to keep some details about what happened to the boy out,” she said. “Because it’s a very sad story. A very sad thing. It’s just horrible what happened to Jasper.”

Police say Jasper died of a gunshot wound to the head early Saturday morning at his home. Details about how the shooting occurred have not been released as investigators await autopsy results.

Not everybody at the Tuesday afternoon vigil knew Jasper personally, but Leo Palmer did. He lives a floor above the apartment where Jasper was shot, and on Tuesday he was on Pierce Street walking his black Labrador, Goliath.

“Jasper would come and pet Goliath every morning before school,” Palmer said. “Jasper was a fun-loving kid.”

Shortly after the vigil got underway, Erica Myers led the group through a prayer and then released four bright blue balloons into the sky, one for every year of Jasper’s life.

The balloons got caught up in the power lines almost immediately and the crowd uttered a collective gasp of distress. Moments later, though, the balloons freed themselves and up they went, soaring toward the heavens.

For some, it was a symbolic moment.

“You’re free now, Jasper,” Myers said.

When she had heard about the death of the boy, she knew at once she had to do something, Myers said. She began organizing a vigil and word got around quickly on social media.

“It hit my heart hard when I heard about it,” Myers said, “to the point where I was dropping tears. I don’t know the family personally, but I just want to give that baby some chance to rest in peace. It’s good how the community is able to pull together and make this happen for him.”

Although the tragedy has been discussed vigorously on social media over the past few days, the vigil, Myers said, was not the time or place to air complaints or speculation.

“This baby lost his life and I just want to give him some kind of celebration,” she said. “Even if you didn’t personally know this little angel, their passing touches our souls and reminds us to cherish every moment.”

In spite of a brisk, cool wind blowing down Walnut Street, several candles set in the grass held onto their flames. A couple of the candles were personalized, with Jasper’s name and his age emblazoned on the sides.

Some of those were the work of Victoria Young, a mother who found the death of such a young child appalling.

“It was so senseless,” she said. “Gang banging in this city is one thing, but when a 4-year-old dies, it strikes a different chord.”

For Carrie Landry, the way people turned out for the Tuesday vigil made the tragic circumstances of Jasper’s death a little easier to bear.

“It’s all so hard to hear when it’s a 4-year-old,” she said. “If a tragedy like this struck my life, I would hope that the community would pull together to at least support the baby. It’s all about the child. That’s why we came here.”

By the time people started wandering away from the gathering, the grass in front of 93 Pierce St. had become home to a variety of items left as memorials for Jasper. There were two teddy bears, single flowers as well as bunches of them, candles, plastic dinosaurs and a variety of other toys that would no doubt appeal to a 4-year-old.

Myers, who organized the vigil, expressed her hope that the gathering was just the beginning of this community remembrance of a child taken too soon.

“Jasper’s memory will live on forever,” she said, “through the people of Lewiston.”