At first there were just a handful of people gathered in the grassy courtyard where 6-year-old Sev'n Molina died. Then, a few slipped out of a breezeway, from around the corner, from behind a door.

Gradually they filed in, alone or in small groups, standing quietly around the homemade shrine of teddy bears, flowers, candles, notes and balloons blanketing the grass where the youngster died a week ago.

By the time the Rev. John Tolle began the outdoor memorial service at Hillcrest Park Apartments in Newbury Park on Sunday evening, about 50 people had gathered to pay their respects, heads down, some dabbing tears. By the time the service ended about 7 p.m., 70 friends, neighbors and well-wishers circled the little shrine in the sunset.

"This is one of the worst acts of violence I've ever been close to," said Mary Vincent, 48, who lives in the complex.

"He was just a baby," said neighbor Taylor Moss, 17.

"It's not just that a 6-year-old boy was killed, but the way he was killed," said another neighbor, Kristen Lanning, 24.

Sev'n was stabbed to death with a meat cleaver during an incident allegedly involving a man named Calvin Leonard Sharp, 27, who had been romantically involved with the boy's mother, Sandra Ruiz, 33. She broke off the relationship about six months ago, according to investigators.

Police reports say Sharp showed up at Ruiz's door on Aug. 12 around 9 p.m. An argument flared as Ruiz tried unsuccessfully to keep Sharp outside. After Sharp managed to get inside, he reportedly got angry at Sev'n and picked up a meat cleaver, using it to chase the young boy outside.

Witnesses say Sharp caught up to Sev'n and began stabbing him with the meat cleaver in the courtyard, also severely injuring Ruiz, who had run out to try to protect her son.

One of Ruiz's neighbors, Diane Cox, 53, then intervened and wrestled the meat cleaver away from Sharp, witnesses said. Another neighbor then tackled and sat on Sharp until police arrived. Sharp was arrested and is scheduled to answer to charges of murder, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and infliction of great bodily harm on Aug. 31.

Sev'n was declared dead at the scene, and his mother was rushed to Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, where she underwent surgery for deep gashes to her scalp, arms, face and legs, as well as a broken right wrist and severed thumb tip. She was listed in stable condition Sunday, a week after the attack.

Her emotional condition was something well-wishers could only guess at.

"I can't imagine being able to go on," Lanning said.

"Comfort her in her hour of sorrow. Let her see that there is life and goodness in the world," said the Rev. Rob Orth, a Thousand Oaks pastor who works with an interfaith group called ACTION: Area Christians Taking Initiative on Needs.

Orth was among five pastors from area churches who showed up to speak at the service. The message they wanted to impart was that there is evil in the world, but good can and has already come of it.

"Part of the good that is already happening is here we are together," said Tolle, who is pastor of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship Church in Newbury Park.

Tolle also made special note of Cox, whom he compared to the Good Samaritan in the Bible.

"She showed incredible courage and love in a situation any of us would have tried to run from," Tolle said. "Give us that courage. Give us that love for one another."

Tolle also singled out the law and emergency personnel who attended the ceremony, including two paramedics and Thousand Oaks Police Chief Dennis Carpenter.

"The men and women in the police department are no different than anyone else," Carpenter said during the service. "We've been suffering this week, too."

Tolle's own son, Thousand Oaks paramedic Jonathan Tolle, was the third paramedic on the scene that night.

His wife, Amanda Tolle, also a paramedic, was at the memorial in uniform. Tolle said her husband is "doing OK," but because of the horror of the situation "I don't think it's really hit him yet," she said.

At the end of the ceremony, the Rev. Tolle encouraged the friends and neighbors to join hands, vow to protect one another and learn from this life gone too soon. "Use this tragedy to teach us all how fragile and short life is."