Suspect Says Assault Tape Scared Him : Oxnard: The man wanted in his wife’s killing surrenders after a delay. But police say he was just stalling.

An Oxnard man wanted in the slaying of his estranged wife delayed surrendering to police, claiming he was frightened by the videotaped beating of a man by Los Angeles police officers, authorities said Friday.

John Ramirez, 55, called Oxnard police Wednesday morning but did not turn himself in until Thursday evening, when he was arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Mary Ramirez, 42, police said. He was being held Friday in the San Bernardino County Jail without bail, a jail spokeswoman said.

“He was afraid they might hit him and beat him up,” said Ramirez’s mother, Frances Roman, 73, speaking of her son’s attitude toward police.

But Oxnard police said Ramirez’s claims of fear were merely a means of stalling.

“The guy’s wanted for murder,” Oxnard Police Chief Robert Owens said. “He’s looking for any way of gaining sympathy, and what better week to do it than this one?”

On Sunday, three Los Angeles police officers were videotaped beating Rodney G. King, 25. The tape by an amateur cameraman was televised nationally. Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates has recommended felony prosecution for the three officers.

Ramirez confessed to firing multiple shots at his estranged wife during a dispute in her Colton residence in San Bernardino County Tuesday evening, Colton Police Detective Rick Gillespie said. The .38-caliber handgun has not been located, he said.

The couple’s young son, who was in the room during the shooting, called 911 and summoned help, but Mary Ramirez died instantly, her heart pierced by a bullet, Gillespie said.

Ramirez’s mother said he and his wife separated last fall because he believed she was seeing a 20-year-old man. He went to visit her early this week in Colton, where she had moved with their four children, Roman said.

After the shooting, Ramirez fled, police said. He went to a bar to drink, then returned to Oxnard that night, Roman said.

Police believed Ramirez would head back to his home and informed Ventura County authorities of the crime, Gillespie said. Oxnard patrol officers checked residences where Ramirez was thought to be staying but found no sign of him that night, Oxnard Police Sgt. Denny Phillips said.

But Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. Ramirez called the Police Department, saying he wanted to give himself up, Phillips said. As officers made arrangements to take the man into custody, they received a call from a local paper saying Ramirez wanted reporters to cover his surrender, Phillips said.

Roman said Ramirez contacted the paper to guard against the possibility of police brutality.

Ramirez’s family claimed that his jaw was broken by an Oxnard officer when he was arrested during a fight more than 30 years ago.

But Oxnard police said they had no records of such an arrest.

In telephone calls over two days, Ramirez and his family also told police that he needed more time to say goodby to his daughters, Phillips said. On Thursday, Ramirez called police again, saying that he would surrender at 4:30 p.m. at the Ventura County Government Center, Phillips said.

But he apparently changed his mind, and sometime Thursday afternoon he contacted off-duty Lt. Gordon Hubbard, a family acquaintance, police and family said.

Hubbard met Ramirez at an undisclosed Oxnard residence and drove him to the police station, where he surrendered to officers at 7:15 p.m., police said.

Colton police later retrieved Ramirez.