Panic Absent, but Caution Abounds in Dana Point : Mood: With the suspect in two slayings still at large, residents are locking their doors and windows.

It is a measure of the community’s normally peaceful nature as well as its recent fear that many residents said they did something unusual when they went to bed Thursday night: they locked their doors and windows.

Mary Miret said crime is usually far from her life in an exclusive gated community where neighbors know each other well. Thursday, she said: “I’m trying to live a normal life, but I’m careful. I locked my doors.”

For Diane Roache, it was the noisy helicopters searching for a gunman on the loose Thursday night that reminded her that the tranquil neighborhood where she lived had changed overnight and that she should lock her door.

Joe Lynch, a 60-year-old architect, said the same thought crossed his mind.

“Last night, I shut the window and locked it when I went to bed,” said Lynch, seated at the counter of a downtown coffee shop. “Then I decided it was kind of silly and I opened it up. The chances of running into the guy are remote.”

Throughout the bucolic seaside community of Dana Point on Friday, there was a strange undercurrent of anxiety one day after an ex-postal worker allegedly went on a shooting spree, killing two people and injuring three.

Even as the manhunt continued for the suspect Friday, business in most places went on as usual. But many residents said they often caught themselves thinking about the possibility of danger in their own hometown.

Patricia Boettcher, the principal at Marco Forster Middle School, reported things were “kind of like business as usual” Thursday. But she added: “The whole thing has raised the awareness level of the staff.”

At many of the area schools Friday, there were signs that things were not normal. Five elementary schools in the Capistrano Unified School District had PTA volunteers posted at strategic places to act as lookouts for anything suspicious.

Jacqueline Price, spokeswoman for the school district, said each campus was also prepared to lock its doors at the first sign of trouble.

“Every school has a procedure in place for a stranger on campus so that we can lock down the schools almost immediately,” she said. “While we don’t want to overreact, we certainly want to err on the side of caution.”

School officials reported normal attendance Friday. But some parents said their children were frightened. Roache, 38, said her 5-year-old boy was asking a lot of questions and requested permission to go out and ride his bike.

At one neighborhood touched by the drama--the gunman allegedly broke into a home there--residents celebrated their relief Friday night with a bit of humor. Dozens of people gathered in the street for a barbecue they dubbed the “Thank God I’m Alive Party.”

Scott Waltz, the party-goer whose Reef Bay home was invaded by the gunman Thursday, said people are still edgy, but relieved. “Everything’s OK,” he said. “You could what-if forever.”

To those outside of Dana Point, the city’s reputation is a place to go and relax--eat a meal with a spectacular ocean view, sit on the beach, ride a bike or sail. At least in the short term, several business owners said Friday they are concerned that Dana Point would not attract the normal crowds seeking a getaway.

Tom Derr, general manager of the Marina Inn, said the crowds were smaller Friday making it “a little eerie at the harbor.”

“It’s too early to say, but it might affect business this weekend,” he said. “We’ve already had some cancellations. With the weather like this, we assume it’s because of the news.”

At a dress shop on La Plaza, owner Ruthe Asche said she was planning to close early Friday because it was the worst business day since the store opened six months ago. “All of my customers say they are not coming out today,” she said.

Some of the businesses near the Dana Point post office also said they remember the suspected gunman--Mark Richard Hilbun--as a customer as well as their mailman.

Mark Vorbau, manager of one of the store’s on Hilbun’s route--Scalzo’s Auto Parts, said he locked his doors Thursday and only opened them for customers he recognized. He said he suggested to other merchants that they do the same.

“It makes everybody a bit more apprehensive,” he said. “A little more stressed.”

Hilbun was also a customer at the Harbor House restaurant, where manager Huberto Barraza said the incident was not forgotten. “All day I was thinking, ‘What would he do if he shows up?’ I’ve been pretty scared about that.”

At the scene of the crime, officials said that 30 of the 70 postal employees at that Dana Point office chose to take Friday off and that the office was staffed with workers from neighboring cities.

“Everybody has been under a lot of stress,” said John Gargan, a Dana Point mail carrier who spent about three hours at work on Friday. “But we were all pretty much dealing with what happened.”

A similar tension was shared at post offices throughout Orange County on Friday. Ned Sheehan, a letter carrier in Mission Viejo, said armed guards were stationed at his workplace. He said the guards made him feel secure while at work, but he felt some anxiety when he went out on his route.

“It was on my mind as I was driving around,” he said. “He (the gunman) seemed very arbitrary.”

The welfare of workers at the post office was also on the minds of many residents who are familiar with their public servants.

One woman, Mary Miret, went to the post office Friday to pick up her mail and shouted to the employees about the condition of her own mailman, Ken Cook. She was told he was off duty when the shooting took place.

“Everybody in the neighborhood thinks he’s a doll,” she said. “We were hoping (the shooting victim) wasn’t him.”

Dozens of people were forced to stand in long lines outside of the post office Friday to collect their mail because the shooting had disrupted delivery service for a second day. Even in the line, some were worried that the gunman could return to the same scene.

“It must have been incredibly terrifying in there,” said Bonnie Pela, 32. “I didn’t come to grips with what happened until I saw those policemen guarding the post office. Then I started to get the shakes a little bit. I mean, what would happen if he came here now and started shooting?”

Times correspondent Frank Messina contributed to this story.