Man Shot to Death in Front of 2 Young Sons : Oxnard: A construction worker is gunned down when he opens the door of his motel room. His children say they recognized the killer.

A 46-year-old construction worker was shot and killed in his Oxnard motel room as his young sons sat in the room watching television, witnesses said Monday.

Ricardo Perea died of three gunshot wounds to the chest at 8:43 p.m. Sunday at St. John’s Regional Medical Center, Deputy Coroner Zelmira Isaac said.

Perea was shot when he opened the door to his room at the Sunshine Inn in the 700 block of West Hueneme Road about 7:50 p.m. Sunday, said motel resident Jack Ganza, 29, who rushed to Perea’s room when he heard the gunfire.

Ganza said he found Perea bleeding and slumped against the bed. Two boys, ages 4 and 6, sat on the bed crying, Ganza said.

The children apparently had just come from their bath and were watching television when the shooting occurred, Ganza said.

“One kid, all he kept saying was, ‘He just shot my dad. He shot my dad,’ ” Ganza said.

Ganza said another motel guest ran to the office to call police, who arrived and took the children.

Several guests said Monday that after they heard the shots, they looked out and saw a man running past the front office and off the motel grounds.

Ganza, who lives in the motel with his 4-year-old daughter, said the children told police they knew the man who shot Perea. The children said that the man was named Junior and that they and their father had lived with him and a woman at one time, Ganza said.

The homicide is the 16th in Ventura County this year, the coroner’s office said. Seven of them have been in Oxnard, the Oxnard Police Department said.

Oxnard police gave few details of the crime.

Perea apparently was a construction worker from Northern California who moved around quite a bit, said Sgt. Denny Phillips of the Oxnard Police Department.

Perea frequently stayed at the motel and brought his two children with him, according to clerk Bill Chuang.

Perea had checked in Sunday morning, Phillips said.