Mourners in Beach Slaying Turn Away From ‘Grudges’ : Memorial: Relatives and friends mix with clean-cut church members, long-haired surfers and others with close-cropped or dyed hair and boots.

Friends and relatives of Robert James Elliott, the 18-year-old man shot to death last week on Dana Strand Beach, described his death Friday as “senseless and unnecessary” but cautioned against taking revenge.

Vince Presta told about 300 mourners who gathered at Calvary Chapel in this district of Dana Point for his friend’s memorial service: “I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt because of this. It’s not worth it.” Jeff Dash, a friend who was with Elliott when he was shot, agreed: “Rob doesn’t want you to bear any grudges. It could have been stopped, but this is the way the Lord wants it.”

Elliott was killed about 1 p.m. Sept. 8 after an argument with Christian Aaron Steffens, 16, of Laguna Niguel. The suspect allegedly shot Elliott once in the chest when Elliott pursued him down the beach during the argument. Steffens has been charged with murder and possession of a deadly weapon.

The suspect’s parents, Don and Cynthia Steffens, said that their son is remorseful about the incident but also that he acted in self-defense.

Steffens, they said, had been beaten several times during the last few months by Elliott and his friends.

The mourners Friday included relatives and friends of Elliott’s--blending into a mixture of clean-cut church members, long-haired youths wearing surf-slogan T-shirts and other young men and women with close-cropped or dyed hair, dressed in leather boots, jeans and T-shirts.

They cried and hugged each other as they stood over Elliott’s open casket. Like his friends, Elliott’s body was dressed informally, wearing a T-shirt and baseball cap, with a black bomber jacket beside his body.

In most of the poems and remembrances read by friends and relatives, Elliott, a Capistrano Beach resident, was characterized as a caring friend and devout Christian who read the Bible regularly and encouraged his friends to attend church.

“He was a beautiful person,” Presta said. “He had something strong inside him. He didn’t care if other people put him down. He hung in there.”

While speakers at the hourlong service focused on their grief, some also criticized press coverage of the incident.

“The media glamorizes death,” said one young man, identifying himself only as Glenn.

Reading from a poem he wrote for the service, Glenn added: “The kid was shot down in cold blood. A murderer might walk because of his age . . . a disillusioned youth full of rage. I wonder who brought him into the world. My brother has been taken away. I look around at friends whose minds are all shaved.”

Elliott’s father, Stephen Elliott, also denounced the shooting and what he termed the “irresponsible press.”

“I’d like Rob’s peers to know that Rob’s death was senseless,” he said. “He was shot without the ability to defend himself. He had nothing on him but shorts.”

In his closing remarks, Calvary Church pastor Chuck Smith praised the youth, who had been increasingly involved with the church after a difficult adolescence.

But, Smith added, Elliott did not fit the common stereotype of a Christian: “Typical of his youth, he was hotblooded, wild and unpredictable. Not afraid to live, but not afraid to die.”