500 Remember Teen Shooting Victim

A community shaken by the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy sparked by the theft of a plastic pumpkin gathered to remember him Saturday--and to understand why his life was cut short.

More than 500 people gathered at the church where Brandon Ketsdever was baptized to mourn for the popular Kennedy High School athlete, known for his sense of humor and pranks.

Brandon was one of three teens who stole a Halloween decoration Monday night from the frontyard of a Buena Park homeowner. The man later confronted them in front of his house, shooting Brandon in the head with a .357 magnum handgun. Pete Tavita Solomona, 47, said the gun went off accidentally, but prosecutors filed the maximum possible murder charges against him.

Amid a sea of baby-blue ribbons--Brandon’s favorite color--mourners shed tears and leaned on each other for support. Most of all, they tried to come to terms with the tragic death by struggling to see it through his eyes.

“Let Brandon not have died in vain. . . . We must get beyond the anger,” said Debbie Ketsdever, a relative. She encouraged friends and relatives “to love easily, to laugh easily and to forgive easily,” as Brandon did.

Brandon’s grandmother, Marie Ketsdever of La Habra, said she also has struggled to understand what might have led Solomona to do what he did.

“I’ve heard that Mr. Solomona is a nice and gentle person. I too am a gentle person. I’ve heard that Mr. Solomona is a grandparent. I too am a grandparent,” she said. But all she could think about was how much she misses her grandson.

While she and others at the funeral tried to cope with the loss with forgiveness, anger still managed to make its way through the somber faces.

“I was real upset,” said Chris Covington, 16, a friend. “It was such a harmless act that he did.”

Brandon and two friends had been circling the neighborhood Monday night looking for decorations to snatch so that they could leave them in their friends’ frontyards as a prank, police said. Solomona had noticed that his lighted plastic pumpkin was missing and a few minutes later saw their car pull toward his house. Solomona ran out of his house waving a loaded revolver, then allegedly fired it into the car, striking Brandon.

The shooting has ripped the fabric of the quiet Buena Park neighborhood. Friends and relatives said the shooting is completely out of character for Solomona, whom they describe as a devout Mormon, loving grandfather and kindly neighbor.

“This world that we’re in now is a strange world,” said Ray Kerns, Brandon’s maternal grandfather, who urged youngsters to “please be careful out there.”

Friends of Brandon number in the hundreds, most of whom lined up for more than an hour to personally say goodbye to him following the memorial service at Knott Avenue Christian Church in Anaheim.

Football team members sat alongside water polo players. Friends who have only known him for a few months shared their memories with those who grew up with him. Those from his honors English class cried with those from his church.

“He’s friends with everybody, different types of personalities,” said Chris, who worked with Brandon at Knott’s Berry Farm. “He just got along with everybody.”

His hobbies included “drawing, fishing, body surfing and, of course, girls,” said Shane Womack, church minister who conducted the memorial services.

He was described as a charming individual who could easily win over adults and peers alike with his sensitivity and brand of humor.

Amanda Bruner, 17, met Brandon four years ago when “he just came over and sat on my lap in Spanish” class. Since then, the two have become best friends, said Amanda, who was among four teenage friends who spoke at the funeral service.

“Nothing I can say could possibly express who Brandon was,” she said as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Brandon would crack a joke at any time.

“He always would make me laugh by publicly humiliating himself. He had a gift for that,” Amanda said, briefly breaking into a smile.

Tim Reed, 17, who played football with Brandon and sat next to him in government class, said he misses the jokes that would get the entire class laughing, including the teacher.

“It’s weird now, to see that desk empty,” said Tim, a Kennedy High School senior.

Brandon’s mother, Jessie Ketsdever, recalled a time when he was just 4 years old: He once quietly wrapped his arms around her waist and slipped a piece of paper into her dress pocket just before school one day.

“It was a [drawing of a] heart to mom,” she said. “It was the simple things he did that made him special.”

She spoke about his handsome face, the “diamonds” in his eyes and his shoulders, which she used to call angel wings.

“I had no idea how much I was speaking the truth,” she said.

Solomona, who does not have a criminal record, made bail and was reunited with his family on Thursday. Witnesses said that after the shooting, he stood frozen in the street, saying “It just went off; it just went off.”

“The horror of what happened is affecting him deeply,” said attorney Mark Werksman. “It’s tragic, but it was an accident.”

But prosecutors said Solomona’s actions--especially his decision to confront the teenagers on the street with a loaded revolver--showed such negligence and disregard for the safety of others that murder charges are warranted.