Sadness Finds Solace as Friends Plan Memorials : Rampage: Oxnard police arrange a massive tribute Tuesday for one of their own. Services are set for three slain civilians.

Flags flew at half-mast and mourners worked feverishly to arrange funerals Saturday as Ventura County prepared to bury its dead after the bloodiest shooting rampage in its history.

In a four-hour closed-door meeting, the Oxnard Police Department’s top brass mapped out a massive tribute to slain Officer James E. O’Brien. More than 5,000 officers from around the county are expected to attend.

As families made plans for the other three victims of Thursday’s rampage by Ventura resident Alan Winterbourne, weeping mourners lined up to lay flowers on a makeshift shrine where O’Brien was killed.

Oxnard officials began to talk of a permanent memorial for the officer who was shot in the head by Winterbourne. The unemployed engineer also wounded four others before being shot and killed by police.

Oxnard City Councilman Michael Plisky said he planned to ask the council to name a park after O’Brien, the sixth Oxnard police officer to die in the line of duty.

Area funeral directors said they are gearing up for large crowds at memorial services for Anna Velasco, Phillip Villegas and Richard Bateman, all shot while working at the Oxnard office of the state Employment Development Department.

“Something rather drastic happened in our community and people need to express grief even if they have no direct connection to the family,” said Sherry Scott, manager at the Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura, where services will be held for Bateman. “There are a lot of people who simply need to cope with what has happened.”

At Bateman’s Ventura home, his family received an outpouring of support from friends and relatives.

“The phone never stopped ringing,” said Ginny Harris, Bateman’s sister-in-law. “Once people figured out that he was involved, we began getting calls and visitors almost nonstop.”

At St. Francis of Assisi Church in Fillmore, friends of Velasco were preparing for her funeral Mass. Velasco had served on several of the church’s committees and organized its annual fiesta.

“She was a beautiful person,” said Father Norm Supancheck, a friend of Velasco. “It’s very difficult for all of her friends because we’ll all miss her very much. But she was the kind of person who everyone knows where she’s gone. She won’t be suffering any more.”

Villegas’ daughter, Lisa Villegas, said a steady stream of police officers and friends of her father came to offer their condolences at the family’s Oxnard home.

“Mostly they’re just coming to say how sorry they are and how he was such a good person,” Lisa Villegas said.

Meanwhile, shooting victim Catherine Stinson of Ventura was in critical condition after undergoing surgery Saturday at Ventura County Medical Center. Irma Lopez, wife of Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez, was in stable condition at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. Bonnie Smith of Camarillo and Darlene Provencio of Oxnard were released from the hospital Friday.

All four are workers at the Oxnard unemployment office.

Late Saturday morning, Provencio’s living room was packed with relatives from as far away as Miami.

“We’re all just glad she’s alive,” said Provencio’s husband, Manny, who said his wife had not yet decided if she would return to her job at the office where the shooting occurred. “She expressed a fear of copycats doing it, of somebody else coming in” and repeating the rampage.

In a statement issued late Saturday, Mayor Lopez urged that measures be taken to improve employee safety at government offices.

“Systems can be designed to minimize public contact under volatile conditions,” Lopez wrote. “To say that these measures are cost-prohibitive is nonsense. This is the best way we can honor those who were affected by this tragedy.”

As friends of Alan Winterbourne prepared for his funeral, they said they were still in shock over his bloody rampage.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of people who knew Alan well, and no one can believe what happened,” said the Rev. Dave Hall, head pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Ventura. Hall said he was friendly with Winterbourne, who attended the church regularly.

A memorial service for Winterbourne will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Trinity, 196 N. Ashwood Ave., Ventura. The funeral will be private, Hall said.

“I asked him myself on a number of occasions how things were going,” Hall said. “He never shared his despair or his own personal anguish.”

The anguish in the wake of Winterbourne’s shooting spree was poignantly evident at the Oxnard Police Department.

Dozens of mourners visited the department bearing cards and condolences and dropping off donations for a trust fund in memory of O’Brien. One woman brought a plate of cookies. The Salvation Army delivered a large box of M & Ms, and by midday floral arrangements filled the lobby.

Police Chief Harold Hurtt spent Saturday morning as the grand marshal of a small Christmas parade in Oxnard’s La Colonia neighborhood.

As horses, floats and colorfully clad dancers passed down a crowded Cooper Road, Hurtt strolled through the crowd, greeting well-wishers with smiles and handshakes.

But when the crowd thinned, Hurtt lost his smile.

“Of course we’re all still very upset,” Hurtt said after the parade had ended. “But people are carrying on. They realize that we still have to provide service to the public.”

Hurtt said he chose to appear in the parade because he thought it was important for the community to gather for an uplifting event.

“When you have had a tragedy like this, it is a time to come together,” he said. “The happiness tends to help lessen the pain.”

At the police station, Cmdr. Jamie Skeeters fielded calls of consolation from as far away as London and Argentina as he made arrangements for O’Brien’s funeral.

“I hate it,” he said. “It’s never easy to see one of your men die.”

Skeeters is responsible for the thousands of details that go into staging an officer’s funeral.

The route to the church and cemetery must be mapped out. Parking spaces must be found. A bagpipe player will be hired. A place in the church must be set aside for TV crews.

“You get 5,000 to 6,000 people, you’ve got to be prepared for anything,” he said.

More than 4,500 law enforcement officers are expected to drive in a procession between the church in Camarillo and small cemetery in Oxnard where O’Brien will be buried.

Skeeters said officers from other cities would fill in Tuesday to allow nearly the entire 300-member Oxnard police force to attend the funeral at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo.

Father Liam Kidney, who will preside over the funeral liturgy, said 10 ministers and two preachers would assist with the service at the 800-seat church. The overflow from the church will stand outside, Kidney said.

He said the size of the crowd would add to the gravity of the occasion. “Crowds at a funeral like this have a way of affecting the atmosphere in a very solemn way. This is . . . reality hitting them straight in the face.”

Mourners began expressing their grief almost immediately after the shooting, setting up a makeshift shrine at the site where O’Brien died, on Victoria Avenue just south of Olivas Park Drive.

By Saturday, bouquets, testimonials and a velvet bow-topped Christmas tree lined the concrete sidewalk sandwiched between zooming traffic and a manure-laden field.

“He helped me find my dog one time,” said Mark Diedrich, placing roses on the shrine.

Paula Miller, 35, and her children, Eric, 8, and Brian McClure, 11, knelt to place flowers and a riot helmet on the memorial.

The helmet belonged to Paula’s husband, a retired Oxnard police officer and close friend of O’Brien. On it, the family had written, “Jim, You will always fill our hearts. We’ll miss you, Bro. Love, ‘Big Al’ and Paula Miller. Love, Eric. Love, Brian.”

Meridee Wilson, 41, of Ventura came to pay her respects. She said she thought a more permanent memorial should be established.

“There needs to be a place for people to remember and to show their honor and respect for the officer that died,” Wilson said. “He represented our community to the public and he died in the line of duty.” Oxnard City Councilman Michael Plisky said he planned to propose that the City Council name a park after O’Brien.

“The kids looked up to him and I want to do something in that vein,” he said. “Not just a plaque on the side of the road, because I think he deserves a lot more than that.”

Two baseball diamonds on Hobson Way in Ventura memorialize Officers John Adair and Fred Clark. Each was shot while responding to domestic disputes--Clark in 1971 and Adair nine years later.

Three other officers were killed in the line of duty since the city was incorporated in 1903. One was directing traffic when he was struck by a drunk driver, and two others were shot.

Times staff writer Constance Sommer and correspondents Julie Fields and Matthew Mosk contributed to this story.

Services for the Victims James E. O’Brien--A rosary will be said at 7 p.m. Monday at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 25 Las Posas Road, Camarillo. A funeral Mass will follow at 10 a.m. Tuesday. He will be buried at Santa Clara Cemetery in Oxnard.

Anna F. Velasco--A vigil will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 1048 Ventura St., Fillmore. A funeral Mass will be held at St. Francis at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Skillin-Carroll Mortuary in Fillmore is in charge of arrangements.

Phillip Villegas--Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday at James A. Reardon Mortuary in Oxnard. A rosary will be said at 7 p.m. Monday at the mortuary. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Santa Clara Church, 323 S. E St., Oxnard.

Richard Bateman--A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura, 3150 Loma Vista Road.