300 Mourn Boy, 12, Slain by Stray Bullet : Tragedy: Community leaders call for an end to violence after Little Leaguer was killed outside an Altadena store. Detectives now believe the gunfire did not involve gangs.

As they wept and prayed for a 12-year-old Little League center fielder, some of the 300 mourners at Justin Richard’s funeral in Altadena on Wednesday focused on healing and wasted no energy picking apart the disputed circumstances of how he was killed.

Detectives believe the seventh-grader was shot by a man aiming at rock-throwing vandals, not by a gangbanger dueling with rivals, as authorities originally reported.

The suspect, Errol D. Smith, 23, has said through his public defender that he opened fire when a band of gang members rushed his car and attacked him in a church parking lot March 21.

Police, however, say the gang members were hurling stones at another car and never threatened Smith.

“He was a ways away” from the brawl, Sheriff’s Detective John Gentzvein said. “There was no reason” for Smith to pull out his semiautomatic pistol and squeeze off four rounds, Gentzvein added.

One bullet hit Justin squarely in the forehead as he paused near a liquor store on his way home from school.

The rambunctious seventh-grader, known for his easy smile and joking manner, was one of a number of Los Angeles-area residents slain by stray gunfire within the past week. Victims included a grocery clerk, a homeless woman and a much-loved church volunteer.

“We always thought we were all going to be together all the time,” said Justin’s cousin, Kevin Richard, 13. “We were real tight.”

The kind of random gunfire that ended Justin and Kevin’s closeness is a far more elusive target for crime fighters than predictable gang-on-gang violence. As Sheriff’s Lt. John Samuel said: “How can you stop stupid stuff from happening?”

Mourners had no simple answers. But they vowed to take on the challenge.

Noting that the Altadena community pulls together after murders, the Rev. Tyrone Skinner said at Metropolitan Baptist Church that “we ought to stop meeting like this. We ought to come together and take care of business before times like this.”

The Rev. Dorothy Evans of the Refuge Christian Center echoed that call in a eulogy that drew a raucous ovation.

“I challenge the women here to come together,” Evans said. “It’s not the responsibility of the government. . . . It’s not a political problem. It’s our men being slain.” Fairly dancing with energy at the podium, Evans exhorted: “Women, we’ve got an awesome responsibility here.”

That responsibility, community activists said later, involves watching out for all children in the neighborhood--both the good kids and the troublemakers. It involves teaching youngsters to resolve conflicts peacefully. It involves teaching children to value life.

“If we can just start with ourselves and gain some self-respect, and then look at everyone else as a sister or brother, we can go from there,” said Carrie Allen, principal of Marshall Fundamental, the secondary school that Justin attended.

In that spirit, several mourners said they viewed Justin’s killer as a victim too--a troubled young man who may never have received proper support from society.

“Why was a man so afraid that the only answer he knew (to break up an alleged confrontation) was a gun?” asked community activist Rena Dyson. “And what made those boys start throwing rocks at a car in the first place?”

Her friend and colleague, Donna Hensen, added: “We need to start pressuring employers to give parents some time off, even if it’s only an hour, to dedicate to their kids, so they can come into the schools, be a part of the school district.”

Hoping Justin’s death will motivate more parental involvement, Hensen and Dyson are holding an organizational meeting at 7 tonight in Loma Alta Park on Lincoln Avenue.

For all the rousing promises to avenge Justin’s death by cracking down on violence, some parents remained deeply cynical.

“People don’t think,” said Gwen LaVergne, the mother of a seventh-grader in Justin’s class. “They use guns instead of fighting with their minds.”

The half a dozen Little Leaguers who served as pallbearers said they will think of their teammate at every game--and will try to rack up a winning record in his honor.

Justin, they noted, was in danger of being dropped from the team when he received failing marks in several classes. Determined to play, Justin worked his grades back to A’s and earned a starting spot in center field.

Exultant, Justin was planning to show his latest report card to the Rangers coach on the day he died.

“We have a game later on today against the Giants, and we’re gonna win it for him,” 10-year-old Mark Pugh said Wednesday morning. “Especially when I get up to bat. I’m going to try to take it over the fence for Justin.”

Immediately after Justin’s death, the Sheriff’s Department issued a news release that said Smith was a suspected gang member. Days later, a spokeswoman said that because of a typographical error, the press release left out the word not and should have read that Smith was not a gang member.

Going even further, Smith’s attorney described his client as a victim.

Attorney Roger Jensen said Smith began firing only after rock-wielding thugs approached his car, which was parked in a church lot. “Some of them actually got into his car,” Jensen said. “He saw a man about to heave a brick through his driver’s side window. . . . If the person who had been throwing the brick had been struck (by the bullets) it would have been an immediate case of self-defense.”

Jensen said Smith, who is being held without bail in Central Jail, suffered head injuries in the attack.

Police insist that Smith was never in jeopardy. Detective Gentzvein said Smith’s parked car was at least 50 feet away from the brawl, which involved up to a dozen gang members assaulting a couple allegedly linked to a rival gang.

“We have no evidence he was being attacked. In fact, we have evidence to argue that’s not the case,” Gentzvein said.

A woman who identified herself as the suspect’s aunt said she thought Smith might have purchased the gun to protect himself from gang members. “Even if he did (shoot Justin), it wasn’t with malice or intent,” she said. “It was just a stupid move on his part. . . . But you can’t make up for the fact that a young boy is dead.”

Times staff writers Lucille Renwick and James Rainey contributed to this story.