Friends dispute abuse suspicions in slaying

? Hundreds of mourners packed a funeral Monday for a man allegedly shot to death by his 8-year-old son, while friends and neighbors disputed any suggestion the boy had been abused by his father.

They painted a picture of Vincent Romero as a caring father who seemed to be doing all he could to raise a polite and respectful boy.

About 600 people filled St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in the town of St. Johns. Romero, an avid hunter, was in a casket with a camouflage lid.

Romero, a 29-year-old employee of a construction company, was shot with a .22-caliber rifle last Wednesday along with Timothy Romans, a 39-year-old man who rented a room in his house.

Police said Romero’s son planned and methodically carried out the killings, and confessed. Authorities would not discuss specifics of the confession. The boy has been charged as a juvenile with two counts of murder.