STATE : Winery Worker Kills His Wife and 4 Others

A winery worker known for his hot temper killed his wife, four other people and wounded another in three separate shooting attacks in the California wine country today, then fled with his three young daughters, authorities said.

The rampage began about 8:20 a.m. in the usually bucolic wine country about 50 miles north of San Francisco, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department.

The gunman was tentatively identified as Grand Cru Winery worker Ramon Salcido, 28. He was the subject of a statewide all-points bulletin and a widespread search.

Authorities on the ground and in helicopters were combing the area for a burgundy Ford sedan in which Salcido was believed to have fled with his three children, ages 1, 3 and 4.

Salcido first went to the ranch of a prominent local man, Bob Kunde, and wounded ranch worker Kenneth Butti in the right shoulder, Sheriff Richard Michaelson said. Butti, 33, was in fair condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

The gunman then went to the winery and shot a male co-worker to death before fleeing in his battered sedan, Michaelson said. The body was found in another car near the winery.

The suspect then went to his home in nearby Boyes Hot Springs, Michaelson said. The body of a woman, presumably his wife, was found there, and Salcido’s three children were were reported missing.

Later, authorities found three bodies at the home of Salcido’s father-in-law, Robert L. Richards, in Cotati, about five miles west of here, said Lt. Gary Zanolini. Richards was not home at the time and was uninjured.