200 Mourn Teen-Age Russian Roulette Victim

More than 200 mourners, including friends and relatives wearing T-shirts adorned with his name, said goodby Saturday to Gabriel Soto, the 13-year-old victim of a shooting that occurred during a one-sided version of Russian roulette.

After a Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Catholic Church, the boy’s body was buried on a windy, steep hillside at Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, where the crying of his family and the strains of traditional mourning songs were almost drowned out by noise from the Antelope Valley Freeway.

Gabriel’s mother, Olga Soto, broke down and stretched over the coffin as the graveside ceremony drew to a close, and mourners and pallbearers placed white carnations on the ground. A girl wept into a handkerchief that enfolded Gabriel’s school photo.

At graveside rites, Father Robert Rankin, an associate pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope, said: “Human life in God’s mind is complete, no matter how long it lasts.”

Olga Soto had been one of the last family members to see the boy alive, as he was leaving the family’s small home on Arch Street near the railroad tracks in Newhall on Tuesday morning to visit a friend. His classes at Placerita Junior High School did not begin until 1 p.m. She had told him not to be late.

Drawn Into Deadly Game

Gabriel and a 14-year-old friend went to an apartment in Valencia where another classmate lived. Authorities believe that the third boy, also 14, drew the other two into a deadly game of Russian roulette, using a gun owned by his father.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies have said the third boy always held the gun, allegedly pointing it at his own head and then at the other two boys. The suspect pleaded not guilty Friday to a murder charge, and a June 21 hearing date has been set. He is being held at Sylmar Juvenile Hall.

At his funeral, Gabriel was remembered as a fun-loving boy who joked, rode his bicycle around the neighborhood and played games “just like any 12- or 13-year-old boy would do,” said Francisco Orona, 17, a neighbor. “He was just like a little brother to all of us.”

He had had some difficulties at school, but family members said his grades were improving, and a special school seemed to be making a difference. His father, Edward Soto Sr., an auto mechanic whose specialty is electronics, said that Gabriel always had wanted to help him work on cars and that his son was saving his money to buy a motor bike.

Albert Valenzuela, another mourner, said: “We’re all like one big family” in the neighborhood where the Sotos have lived for 15 years. Valenzuela wore one of the T-shirts, which also had the date of Gabriel’s death and the words “In Memory” across the back.