‘You Think You Don’t Have to Worry’ : Violence: Families mourn girl accidentally slain by playmate.

It was not the violence of the streets but a gun tucked under a bed that cost 7-year-old Crystal Kimberly Bracey her life.

On her graffiti-scarred block in Watts, heavy iron bars cover almost every window, chain-link fencing keeps the uninvited at bay and nighttime gunfire is so frequent that few residents feel secure without a weapon of their own.

“Gunshots here are like a dog barking--it’s so normal,” the girl’s aunt, Sonya Carter, 23, said Saturday. “But at least if your child is at home, or at a neighbor’s house, you think you don’t have to worry, that they’re safe and being watched.”

Nobody suspected that the pigtailed, high-achieving second-grader would be in danger as long as she stayed behind those protective walls. But on Friday as she played at a neighbor’s house half a block away, a 9-year-old boy pulled a high-powered military-style rifle from under a mattress and fired one round into her chest.

Detectives believe the shooting was accidental but were investigating whether anyone in the household had been negligent for leaving the weapon within reach. Under the Children’s Firearm Accident Protection Act, which took effect in 1992, an adult can face up to three years in state prison and a $10,000 fine for keeping a loaded weapon that is accessible to a minor.

“Unfortunately, where we live, people feel they need a gun to make it in everyday life,” Carter said as she wiped her eyes outside the girl’s house on 112th Street. “Now, we’ll never know what this beautiful child would have grown up to be--maybe a doctor, maybe a lawyer, maybe the first black woman President of the United States. All we can do is wonder.”

Police said the boy discovered the rifle in a bedroom about 7 p.m. His grandmother, Lillie Smith, who was watering plants in the living room when the shot was fired, said she did not know such a weapon was in the house. By the time she realized what had happened, the girl who everyone knew as Kim was lying face-down on the floor.

After being summoned, the girl’s mother dashed to the house, where she cradled her bleeding child, whispering words of love. Unable to speak, Kim gently squeezed her mother’s hand. But 1 1/2 hours later, she was pronounced dead at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.

Officers questioned the distraught boy, who was later released to another relative. His grandmother said she plans to take him to a doctor Monday. “He’s still crying,” said Smith, 63, a retired noontime aide at nearby Grape Street Elementary School. “He just keeps saying, ‘It was an accident. It was an accident.’ ”

Smith said she warned the boy--one of her 17 grandchildren and great-grandchildren--to steer clear of firearms.

“I always told him that you never play with guns, that if you know it’s real, you don’t even touch it,” said Smith, who does not own a weapon but believes some of her older grandchildren do. “I don’t see how they give you that much protection anyway. If a person comes up to you with a gun, they’re gonna get you, whether you have one or not.”

Kim, a drill team cheerleader at Grape Street School, had lived her entire life in a neighborhood known for its hazards; in the half-square-mile that surrounds her home, police last year reported an average of one violent crime a day, including five murders, 125 robberies and 243 assaults.

Despite the perils, Kim strove to excel. Her mother, LaShawn Sadberry, who was too consumed with grief Saturday to talk, kept a folder that is stuffed with her daughter’s schoolwork and awards. There are certificates for perfect attendance, good citizenship and positive behavior. One commendation, from Los Angeles’ BEST after-school program, praised her for participating this month in the Community Jam Against Violence.

“A beautiful life has been lost,” said Kim’s aunt, who asked that funeral donations be sent in care of Grape Street School. “We know nothing was done intentionally. We just want the message to get out that guns equal danger.”

Only Kim’s younger sister, 4-year-old Jasmine, did not seem to comprehend the horror that has befallen the two families. As the girl pranced around her front yard Saturday, her aunt said they tried to explain that Kim had gone to heaven to be with the angels.

“When she gets back, let me know,” Jasmine had replied, “so we can go out and play.”