The Oxnard Rampage : Family, Motorists Pay Respects at Spot Where Police Officer Fell : Memorial: Many stop by the site on Victoria Avenue, offering flowers, flags and tears. Some also build a shrine to the three civilians killed.

As passing motorists honked horns to show respect for an Oxnard police officer who died protecting the public, Jim Palkie stood silently in front of a makeshift memorial on the side of a busy Ventura street.

A retired lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Navy, Palkie said he felt compelled to pay his respects to a man he had never met, slain Officer James E. O’Brien, who was shot and killed Thursday by a man on a killing rampage.

“I spent 20 years in the military and I lost a lot of friends in the line of duty, so this really touched me,” said Palkie, of Ventura. “He got killed doing what he loved to do: performing a public service. People shouldn’t forget this. It’s too important.”

Dozens of other residents apparently agreed.

Throughout the day Friday, a steady stream of people stopped by the site on Victoria Avenue just south of Olivas Park Drive where O’Brien died. He was shot while he and other officers were pursuing Alan Winterbourne, 33, of Ventura, who authorities said killed three other people at the Oxnard state Employment Development Department office before police shot and killed him.

Offering flowers, flags and tears, they created a memorial that touched the slain officer’s family and close friends, who also came to the blood-stained patch of pavement on Victoria Avenue to honor O’Brien.

“You hate to go to the place where he died, but I’m glad this is here,” said Mark Franke, a godfather to O’Brien’s daughter Kathryn. Crying quietly behind mirrored sunglasses, Franke said: “I couldn’t drive by without doing something for him.”

Members of Franke’s family brought flowers to the memorial.

With its white wooden cross and American flag at half-mast, the memorial prompted many motorists to pull over to express their appreciation for O’Brien’s years of service and the life he sacrificed.

“I didn’t know him at all, but he was just doing his job, protecting us,” said John Tweter of Oxnard. “I feel sympathy for the other victims, but I just kind of felt drawn to him, so I decided to stop. He put his neck on the line voluntarily, for us.”

Handwritten notes of sorrow, gratitude and hope for a more peaceful future fluttered among the bouquets.

“Thanx 4 everything you’ve done 4 the city of Oxnard in the last 9 years,” one note read. Another asked: “How can we repay someone so dedicated to saving lives that you gave your own? God truly sent you from heaven.”

Nearly buried under the wildflowers and tissue-wrapped bouquets, a white sign wrapped in a red ribbon honored O’Brien with the simple message: “From one brother to another.”

Ventura resident Don White had set up that placard, along with a wooden cross, Thursday evening, hours after O’Brien’s death. White, who trained at the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department reserve academy with O’Brien in 1980, said he considered the slain officer a brother.

“It had to be done as soon as possible,” Wood said of the memorial, which he constructed with his 16-year-old son. “People like him are not forgotten. They should not be forgotten.”

Several mourners said they would like to see a permanent plaque set up on the pavement where O’Brien died. But they added that they might find it emotionally draining to visit the site.

“I have a real hard time driving by here,” said Lyn Fosse of Oxnard, who said she had known O’Brien well. “I almost felt like going around on the freeway today so I wouldn’t have to drive by. But I wanted to show my total respect for him.”

While many grievers focused their anguish on O’Brien’s death, some also built a shrine to the three civilians killed during the bloody rampage. By 5 a.m. Friday, mourners had set flowers near the Oxnard office where Winterbourne opened fire the day before.

Later in the morning, Oxnard resident Karri Miller stopped by the unemployment office with her 4-year-old daughter. The two brought poinsettias to the office, then drove to the roadside memorial for O’Brien and dropped off more flowers.

“It’s just a senseless tragedy,” Miller said. “These people (in the Employment Development Department) helped me so many times. It’s just awful.”

Correspondent Julie Fields and photographer Alan Hagman contributed to this story.