Williams mourned in hours-long service

LOS ANGELES – Celebrities from hip-hop star Snoop Dogg to motivational speaker Tony Robbins lamented the execution of Stanley “Tookie” Williams at a funeral Tuesday that drew hundreds to the violence-racked area where Williams founded the murderous Crips gang three decades ago.

Under heavy police presence, mourners including gang members waited in line to enter the 1,500-seat Bethel AME Church for a ceremony that stretched more than four hours.

After the service, many of those outside the church dropped to the ground after hearing what sounded like three gunshots about a block away, but there were no injuries and no arrests.

Williams was executed Dec. 13 despite clemency pleas from celebrities and others who said he had rededicated his life to peace.

“It’s nine-fifteen on twelve-thirteen and another black king will be taken from the scene,” Snoop Dogg told mourners, reciting a poem about the execution. The line “I don’t believe Stan did it” drew wild applause in the parking lot.

Williams, 51, was put to death by injection at San Quentin Prison for the 1979 shotgun murders of a 7-Eleven clerk and three motel owners.

“The war within me is over. I battled my demons and I was triumphant,” Williams said in a recording played to mourners.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson decried the execution of Williams, whom Jackson said saw himself in the end as a “healer, not a predator.”

“Tookie is dead. We’re not safer, we’re not more secure, we’re not more humane,” Jackson said.

While on death row, Williams wrote children’s books warning against gang life. Those efforts attracted supporters who lobbied for clemency. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was unconvinced and refused to spare his life.