Pallbearer Killed, Mourners Wounded : Shooting: Gunman yells slogans and fires into crowd gathered at a Long Beach home after a funeral. Victims are graffiti ‘taggers’ rather than gang members, police say.

A man carrying an automatic weapon walked up to a crowd of mourners after a funeral in Long Beach on Tuesday and opened fire--killing one youth and wounding five others, police said.

The mourners had gathered after the funeral of Rafael Preciado Jr., 19, whom they knew as “the Keeper” and who had died in a gang-related shooting Nov. 23, officers said.

The crowd--as many as 200 at one time--lingered outside a home in central Long Beach under a banner that read “Mr. Keeper, R.I.P.”

Shortly before 4 p.m., after the group had begun to disperse, a man walked up, screamed gang slogans and opened fire, possibly with an assault rifle, police said. He escaped in a car driven by a second person, authorities said.

Long Beach police spokeswoman Linda Fierro said the youths who had gathered at 20th Street and Myrtle Avenue are not considered gang members but graffiti “taggers.” Only a few hours earlier, many in the mostly teen-age group had read their own poems in paying tribute to Preciado at his memorial service.

“It’s ridiculous. This should have been a house of respect,” said one woman who attended the party with her four teen-age children.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said that she had left the party only half an hour earlier, taking about 20 youngsters who gathered at her home.

“They could have gotten killed. Two of the girls shot were my daughters’ friends,” she said.

Police declined to identify the slain youngster. Friends said he lived in Victorville and had come to Long Beach to serve as a pallbearer at Preciado’s funeral.

Of the five youngsters who were shot, three from Long Beach, were listed in serious condition late Tuesday at two hospitals. They were identified by authorities as David Huizar, 15, Nicole Abaya, 17, and Gilbert Carpio, 18. Meanwhile, Maria Lerma, 14, of Long Beach and Mandi Montez, 16, of Carson were listed in fair condition at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said.

Investigators said they had not determined whether the shooting was related to Preciado’s death.