Random Bullet Cuts Short a Life on the Mend : Shooting: His brothers and fellow recovering alcoholics enjoyed helping Ramon Toro find new purpose at AA meetings. Now, they must send his body back for burial in his Mexican hometown.

Heavy drinking had unraveled his life in Mexico before Ramon Toro, 28, came to Anaheim to live with his brothers eight months ago, leaving five children and a wife in the wreckage of his past.

Here, he and his brothers found solace in a tight-knit Spanish-language Alcoholics Anonymous group that meets nightly in a tiny Harbor Boulevard storefront in Fullerton.

The bond they shared was abruptly severed Monday, when a bullet passed through the open door of the AA meeting room, fatally piercing Toro’s throat. Police say the flying bullet came from a dispute in the alley east of the meeting hall, and that Toro was not the intended victim.

His sudden death has prompted an outpouring of support from the close group of recovering alcoholics that served as an extended family for Toro and his brothers. The men played soccer together, went to dances and spent countless nights sitting in the comfortable clubhouse of ratty sofas and inspirational wall hangings, sipping coffee, sharing their fears and hopes, and singing along for hours with the tinny music of the group’s tape recorder.

“Just on Sunday, Ramon said to me, ‘We have to live life as fully as we can from moment to moment because we don’t know when it will be gone,’ ” said Carlos, 27, of Fullerton and one of the group’s regular members. Like other members, he asked that his last name not be used to protect his anonymity. “Here we are, trying to recuperate, to live without alcohol, and in one minute, his life is gone.”

With help from the AA fellowship, Toro’s brothers are flying his body today to his native Mexican town of Etzatlan, a small village near Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco where Toro will be buried this afternoon.

Toro’s older brother, Juan, 34, had taken him under his wing and brought him and their younger brother, Miguel, 27, to the AA meetings nearly every night, said his sister-in-law, Rosa Maria Leon de Toro, 38.

“He was very happy, a peaceful man who loved his friendships,” Leon de Toro said. “He had friends from the group. The brothers went to the meetings during the week and on the weekends too. His brother Juan was trying to help him.”

Miguel and Ramon Toro both found night work at an Anaheim furniture factory, and Ramon Toro was studying English in the day and trying to legalize his status here with the help of Juan, friends said.

Ramon Toro had been named the coordinator for a fourth-year anniversary party planned for the group Oct. 15, and over the past six months, the group’s collection box for the festivities had swelled to $1,090, Carlos said. That money went instead to the Toro brothers, to help cover funeral expenses and a trip to their hometown, where their parents still live.

Members of the South Harbor Boulevard group also fanned out during the week to other Spanish-language groups across Orange County and Los Angeles, taking up a collection for the brothers.

Friends recalled the moments before his death. Ramon Toro had removed his shoes and relaxed comfortably on the sofa as he often did.

“We were talking about getting a car and he said he didn’t want to,” said Jorge, 20, of Fullerton. “He said he didn’t want problems with the police because he was trying to arrange his legalization papers.”

Jorge got up to get Ramon a glass of water and when Ramon took a sip about 8:30 p.m., the men heard several gunshots.

“He clutched himself near his throat and he said, ‘They got me,’ ” said Fernando, 25, of Anaheim, who was sitting next to Toro. “At first we all thought it was a joke, but then he moved his hand and we saw the blood.”

Friends said Toro liked to dress nicely, sporting cowboy boots and dress shirts that he pressed carefully. As Jorge ran to call 911, other friends tore off his shirt and tried to stop the bleeding.

“He worked at night and he studied English during the day,” said Avelino Carrrera, one of the group’s members who mourned Toro’s loss this week. “He wanted to improve his life. He was looking for a better future.”

Police have no suspect.