SYDNEY MINES, Nova Scotia – Tears, prayers and forgiveness were offered Tuesday by about 200 mourners who attended a funeral service for accused double murderer Stephen A. Marshall.

Under gray skies and light drizzle, his mother, Margaret, and stepfather, Keith Miles, led a dozen relatives, including his biological father, Ralph Marshall, inside the packed church.

Marshall, 20, was visiting his father in Houlton, Maine, on Easter weekend when he apparently sought out and killed two Maine men he had tracked down using the state’s online registry of convicted sex offenders.

He is believed to have gunned down Joseph Gray, 57, of Milo, Maine, and William Elliott, 24, of nearby Corinth early on Easter Sunday. That evening, as Massachusetts police stopped a bus he was on outside Boston, he shot himself in the head with a handgun and died later that night in a hospital.

The Rev. Kevin Mattatall told his Pentecostal congregation Tuesday that what Marshall did was wrong, but he deserves forgiveness.

He compared Marshall’s actions to biblical figures who sinned and were forgiven by God.

“I relate this all back to Stephen and what he did, and I don’t know what happened to Steve to do what he did … but what he did was right in his heart, and he made a bad mental choice,” Mattatall said.

Mattatall told the congregation that on Jan. 4, inside his parents’ home in Little Bras d’Or, Marshall had asked to be saved.

“Margaret called and told me Steve wanted to talk to me, to ask for forgiveness for his sins and accept Christ,” he said. “We prayed and prayed … and he accepted Christ as his personal savior.

“Three weeks ago I shook [Marshall’s] hand at the back of the church, and he said he was great. He always had a smile, and he seemed quite happy. … Last week, I was personally shocked.

“He committed something wrong. But who of us have not done something wrong? I think all of us have made mistakes, but God doesn’t save perfect people.”

Three young men who befriended Marshall and shared a Regent Street home and its two apartments with him also offered a glimpse into a young man they described as being a great cook, a guy who would pick up an insect and put it outside instead of squishing it, an inventor of gadgets using power tools and possessor of a quirky sense of humor. He also liked to play cards, drink tea and watch “The Daily Show” on TV.

None of the three can believe their friend was responsible for killing two men and committing suicide.

“It was total disbelief, shock and sadness to think what he was going through,” friend Devon Farrell said after the service. “I’m not going to search for answers, but I want to remember him as our friend. We lost our roommate, and we want to keep him in our hearts.”

Marshall’s sister, Ina Hilgers of Arizona, could barely speak through her tears but said she regretted not telling him she loved him when they talked in January.

“I know the best thing we can do now is love everyone around us, that’s our job now,” she said. “He was a blessing to us … the joy he brought us, nothing can take that from any of us.”