Services Friday for Teen Shot at Beach

Memorial services for a Capistrano Beach teen-ager who was fatally shot at a Dana Point beach during the weekend will be held Friday, the family said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathi Harper said officials may decide today whether murder charges should be filed against a 16-year-old Laguna Niguel boy arrested in connection with the shooting.

The family of the victim, Robert James Elliott, described him Monday as a regular churchgoer who spent his leisure time trying “to convert people to the Lord.”

“He took his Bible everywhere and was forever trying to bring people to Jesus,’ Katherine Boucher said of her slain son. “He would bring all these people, including some who were hooked on drugs, into my house. I would have to tell him this is not a flophouse.”

As surfers and other beach-goers looked on, Elliott was shot in the chest in the 1 p.m. incident Saturday at Dana Strand beach.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrested the 16-year-old, a student at Dana Hills High School, on suspicion of murder. His name was being withheld because of his age.

Witnesses said Elliott and the suspect had a running feud over a broken window in Elliott’s truck. The younger boy had reportedly smashed the window with a baseball bat about three weeks ago.

Witnesses said Elliott walked up to the 16-year-old on the beach and the two argued. The younger boy then walked away, and Elliott pursued him, demanding money for the broken window, according to the witnesses.

The younger boy turned and pulled the trigger, witnesses said. At first the gun didn’t fire, but the 16-year-old dropped to one knee and squeezed the trigger a second time, witnesses said.

Sheriff’s deputies later recovered a handgun, and the 16-year-old was being held at Juvenile Hall.

More than a score of Elliott’s friends gathered at his Via Canon house Monday to offer their condolences to the family.

“He didn’t deserve to die this way,” said Elliott’s sister, 19-year-old Lori Elliott. “Everyone should know that you should never resort to guns to solve your problems.”

Boucher said her son was a member of the Calvary Chapel near his house.

Boucher said her son, who had learning disabilities, dropped out of San Clemente High School but returned to complete his education.

Elliott’s father, Stephen Elliott, said his son had told him that someone had smashed a window in his 1990 Mitsubishi pickup truck.

Stephen Elliott said he had advanced his son $250 to repair the damage.

“I feel bad now because I told him that he should be responsible and pay me back,” said Stephen Elliott, who said he is the president of an Orange County company with assets valued at $15 million. “With 20/20 hindsight, I would have told him to forget about the money, but Rob was idealistic and he wanted everything to be fair. He thought the guy should pay for breaking his window.”

Friends of the shooting suspect said Monday that he told them he had bought a handgun in San Diego. The junior began carrying the weapon to school last week because he was fearful of Elliott, they said. Efforts to reach his family were unsuccessful.

The service for Elliott will be held at 10 a.m. at Calvary Chapel.

Times correspondent Cherylanne Bealer contributed to this report.