Shooting Suspect, 13, a ‘Follower’ : Slaying: Boy who allegedly shot his 14-year-old cousin was unlikely to cause trouble, his teachers say.

His teachers described him as a quiet, gangly boy who was big for his age, and more likely to follow his friends than to instigate trouble.

There were problems at home. But there was nothing, they said, to explain the incident that began when the 13-year-old arrived at an abandoned apartment complex waving a semiautomatic handgun and resulted in his 14-year-old cousin being shot in the forehead.

“There was never any indication that he would explode or become violent,” said Don Morner, a teacher and principal at Trinity Lutheran School in Santa Ana, where the boy completed seventh grade this year.

The Santa Ana 13-year-old, whose name is being withheld because of his age, remained Tuesday at UCI Medical Center in Orange. He was being treated for a gunshot wound to the leg that authorities said may have been self-inflicted as he fled the shooting scene.

Detectives continued efforts Tuesday to discover where the 13-year-old obtained the gun that killed James Valentine, 14, of Garden Grove.

Garden Grove police investigators said they are seeking a murder charge against the 13-year-old suspect and plan to turn over the case to the district attorney’s office later this week.

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Teachers said the two cousins shared a bond of circumstance: Both came from financially struggling households divided by divorce. But family and friends described their personalities as sharply different.

“They were not close, they weren’t friends or comrades,” said Joan Vink, the victim’s mother. “They were two very different people.”

Friends and former teachers described James as a polite and shyly mischievous child who liked softball and swimming at the federally subsidized apartment complex where his family lives.

“He looked like he was spiffy and polished every time he came into the classroom,” said Betty Feiock, who taught James Valentine and his siblings at King of Kings Lutheran School in Garden Grove. “His hair was combed back and he had freckles on his face. He was a handful--full of the dickens.”

James excelled in school and hoped to attend college, “to build things, reshape the earth,” said his mother. She said her son picked up his fascination with mechanical objects from his father, an engineer.

But James’ 13-year-old cousin had a tougher time, according to a former pastor and teacher.

The boy has spent much of his young life alternating between his mother, who has cancer, and his disabled father, a former musician who walks with the help of crutches, said Pastor Marcus Nitz of King of Kings Lutheran School.

The 13-year-old’s meek nature sometimes made him a target for teasing at the school, according to its officials. “He was not a violent kid,” Morner said. “I’ve never seen him hit anyone.”

Morner said the boy struggled with his schoolwork, had a “C” average and was neither a “nice kid [nor] a bad kid, he was somewhere in between.”

“He was a follower, not one to take the lead,” the principal said.

Pastor Nitz said the 13-year-old “didn’t always get his assignments done and he lacked the parental push.” The boy had transferred from King of Kings to Trinity two years ago.

“He was a typical young fellow who didn’t have the kind of guidance that he should have, so he kind of drifted,” Nitz said.

A former teacher described the boy as an excellent athlete, particularly at track. “I always got along really well with him,” said teacher Mark Zoellner, who taught the 13-year-old during fifth grade. “He was really respectful, a good athlete. He’s also a good basketball player.”

Zoellner said the boy’s father often attended track meets to watch his son compete.

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The suspect lives with his father in Santa Ana, but would visit his mother who lives in the same Westminster complex as the Valentines, Vink said.

The cousins rarely saw each other, but spent last weekend together, said Vink, 43. “They were swimming together in the community pool the night before” the shooting, she said.

The last time the Valentines saw James was Monday morning when he told them he was going out with his cousin and friends.

A family friend has set up a trust fund to help the family pay for the 14-year-old’s funeral. Friends were seeking donations to the James M. Valentine III Memorial Fund, which was opened at the Sanwa Bank branch on Culver Drive in Irvine.

“I’m going to miss my son every day of my life,” Vink said. “He was the catalyst in our house, our balance, my touchstone.”

Times staff writer Thao Hua contributed to this report.