4 Shot Dead by Man in Rampage : Violence: He murders three in Oxnard jobless office, then kills a pursuing officer. The gunman drives to the Ventura unemployment office and is slain by police.

An out-of-work computer engineer with a history of grudges against government opened fire without warning in an unemployment office here Thursday, killing three people and later fatally shooting a police officer before he was gunned down at another unemployment office in the neighboring city of Ventura, authorities said.

The gunman, who also wounded three people, was identified by the Ventura County coroner’s office as Alan Winterbourne, 33, of Ventura, a man known for his contentiousness. In recent years Winterbourne had run for Congress, saying he was attracted by the high pay, and had campaigned furiously against the installation of stop signs that he said interfered with his bicycle riding. Ventura’s city transportation engineer said in an interview Thursday that he had regarded Winterbourne as irrational and had told his boss he was afraid that “Mr. Winterbourne might come in and shoot me.”

The slain officer was James E. O’Brien, 34, an eight-year veteran of the Oxnard police force. Authorities had not identified the other slain victims Thursday night. The wounded were identified as Bonnie Smith, Darlene Provencio and Irma Lopez, wife of Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez.

Witnesses said the shaggy-bearded Winterbourne, wearing a sport coat, shirt and slacks, entered the state Employment Development Department office in Oxnard about 11:45 a.m., walked into an employee area and began firing. He left the office and encountered Oxnard officers arriving in response to a 911 call. As the officers fired at him, Winterbourne ran to a nearby residential street, jumped into a parked car and led officers on a chase through an agricultural area.

Near an area of lemon groves and farm fields, the gunman got out of his car and fired a rifle at officers. O’Brien was struck and killed. Winterbourne got into the car and fled toward Ventura.

With half a dozen police cars in pursuit, he pulled in at the Ventura employment office. As dozens of employees from nearby offices watched, he got out of his car carrying a rifle and was shot by police officers.

Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury’s investigators issued a preliminary finding that the officers were justified in shooting Winterbourne, according to Oxnard Police Cmdr. Tom Cady.

Witnesses to the Oxnard shootings said that Winterbourne appeared to be aiming only for employees, 35 to 40 of whom were in the building during the attack.

“He did not scream anything to the people, he just kept shooting,” said Deborah Dean, who was waiting to apply for a benefits extension when the shooting started.

“There was a pause and another volley and everyone hit the floor. You could tell he was moving. You could tell the gunshots were coming this way. ‘There were people praying and babies crying; mostly it was quiet,” Dean said.

Gary Wood, an 18-year employee at the Oxnard office, said it appeared that the slain employees were shot at close range. One woman was fatally shot as she hid beneath her desk, he said.

“We could hear him reloading,” said Wood, who said he was sitting at his desk when he saw Winterbourne kick open a gate separating the public waiting area from employees’ desks.

The first person fatally shot was working at a computer in a small conference room near the gate. Other people shot were working near the public counter, he said.

“I think he just walked up one aisle and walked back down another aisle in our work area,” he said.

When the shooting stopped, the gunman jumped across a counter to the public area, hid a gun under his coat and calmly walked out a different door.

After escaping and killing Officer O’Brien halfway to the Ventura unemployment office, he ended the chase by wheeling into the parking lot and jumping from the stolen Plymouth Duster.

“He ripped into the parking lot real quick,” said Carrie Shlonsky, 25, a mortgage company employee who walked outside when she heard sirens. “Then the police jumped out of their cars. There were a bunch of shots, maybe 15 or 20.”

Winterbourne was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said he was armed with two rifles and a handgun, as well as a shotgun that he left at the Oxnard office.

His motive was unknown, Cady said.

“We do not have any idea why he would go to the office when he did.”

O’Brien, the first Oxnard police office killed in the line of duty since 1981, was married with two children.

Two men were pronounced dead at the Oxnard unemployment office. A woman was taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, where she died. Although identities of the dead were not disclosed, police said one was not an office employee.

The first shooting victim to arrive at St. John’s was Irma Lopez, 47. She was taken there by Ray Gonzales of Oxnard, an insurance salesman who came to her aid as she tried to flee. Struck in the leg and back by half a dozen shotgun pellets, Lopez had fallen several times after she was shot and was unable to stand.

In the wake of the shootings, the Oxnard office will be closed for a time, said Karen Cardona, a field representative for the department who flew in from Sacramento. “The employees will be needing and receiving extensive counseling,” she said.

Gov. Pete Wilson issued a statement saying he was “shocked and saddened to hear about the senseless violence,” and said his office will take “every precaution necessary to guarantee the safety of workers and visitors in state facilities.”

Winterbourne, a 1985 computer science graduate at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, worked for Northrop Co. in Newbury Park from September, 1985 to February, 1986, a Northrop spokesman said.

“Records show that he quit voluntarily,” spokesman James Taft said. “He was not laid off or fired.”

Winterbourne had not found a job for seven years.

His resume listed no further work history since Northrop. He lived with his mother, Ila Winterbourne, former manger of the Ventura County Symphony, in a house in a moderately priced Ventura neighborhood. His sister, Carol, is a flutist for the symphony.

Winterbourne gave his resume to The Times in 1990 when he unsuccessfully challenged then-Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino in the Republican primary. Winterbourne got 11% of the vote.

He said he was running for Congress because he was attracted by congressional salaries. “I think it would be a good job,” he said.

In interviews at the time, Winterbourne said his two main issues were cutting the federal deficit and repealing the 55 m.p.h. speed limit. “People are becoming criminals when they shouldn’t be criminals,” he said.

He voiced a similar theme during a three-year battle with the city of Ventura after stop signs were installed in his neighborhood. City Transportation Engineer Nazir Lalani compiled a two-inch-thick stack of letters from Winterbourne.

“His issue was ‘I ride a bicycle and I can’t roll through the intersection as I used to. I have to get off my bike now,’ ” Lalani said. “I said to him, ‘Mr. Winterbourne, you’re the exact kind of person I’m trying to make sure does not get hit.”

Lalani said he had “expressed my concerns to the city manager” that Winterbourne might walk in and shoot him. “That’s one of the things that concerns me about working at a public counter.”

Winterbourne also brought his complaints to The Times, writing letters to the Street Smart traffic column of the Times’ Ventura County edition about the stop signs. He was unhappy with Lalani’s response, which credited the signs with bringing about a decrease in accidents.

“I am an engineer and have been out of work for over seven years now and can not afford a $70-plus ticket,” he wrote.

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Times staff writers Fred Alvarez, Dwayne Bray, Tina Daunt, Pancho Doll, Scott Hadly, Daryl Kelley, Peggy Y. Lee, Joanna M. Miller and Stephanie Simon contributed to this report. Also contributing were Times correspondents Maia Davis, Julie Fields, Pat McCartney, J. E. Mitchell, Matthew Mosk and Kay Saillant.