1,000 Grieve for Shooting Victims at Latest Services : Mourning: For second consecutive day, friends, family and strangers attend church rites for three of four slain in last week’s rampage.

More than 1,000 Ventura County residents, still stunned and saddened by last week’s violence, gathered Monday evening to mourn three people killed when an unemployed engineer went on a deadly shooting spree.

Religious services in Camarillo, Fillmore and Oxnard drew large crowds, as friends, family and others came to pay their respects to a slain police officer and two workers at a state unemployment office, all victims of last Thursday’s bloody rampage.

On Sunday, similar services were held for all four victims of the shooting.

Detective James E. O’Brien, a veteran of the Oxnard police force, died trying to apprehend the gunman, Ventura resident Alan Winterbourne. O’Brien, 35, was a member of the Police Department’s honor guard, graffiti detail and anti-gang task force.

At a rosary for him at the packed St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo, Father Liam Kidney delivered a moving and sometimes funny memorial service.

O’Brien’s wife, Leslie, and his children, Kathryn, 9, and Sean, 7, attended the service, along with O’Brien’s mother, Patricia. Anticipating a huge turnout, they held the service at St. Mary Magdalen, which has a larger sanctuary than O’Brien’s church, Padre Serra Parish in Camarillo.

“What we are about tonight is a double-edged sword,” said Kidney, pastor of Padre Serra. “One edge is the obvious hurt, loneliness and depression of letting go of somebody that we love so much. Of letting go of somebody so young. But the other edge is our faith, and our faith tells us this man, Jim O’Brien, is alive.”

Inside the church, two uniformed officers stood at attention over O’Brien’s casket, draped with an American flag. Dozens of floral arrangements lined the front of the church. A wreath of yellow and red flowers framed O’Brien’s photo near the altar.

Also Monday, separate religious services honored Anna F. Velasco and Phillip Villegas. The two, both employees at the Oxnard office of the state Employment Development Department, died when Winterbourne sprayed their workplace with gunfire.

The soft-spoken Velasco, 42, had worked in the unemployment office for a dozen years. The Fillmore resident, an active church member, had been organizing an upcoming fiesta when she died. The night before she was killed, she translated a healing Mass for the Spanish-speaking congregation.

A dozen wreaths, displayed in the foyer of the St. Francis of Assisi Church in Fillmore for the Monday night vigil, attested to Velasco’s popularity at work, among the congregation and in her hometown.

Banners draped across the flowers honored the memory of “Beloved Anna” and “Our Friend.” Throngs of mourners surrounded Velasco’s coffin, lying near a montage of photographs showing the church’s most active members--including Anna and Salvador Velasco.

Standing at the foot of the coffin, Velasco’s brother, Carlos Vargas, sobbed into the arms of a friend. His cries echoed through the church foyer, partly drowning out the religious service that preceded the vigil in the low-ceiling sanctuary.

Mourners packed the church, lining both side walls, and spilled out on the sidewalk.

One neighbor, Pat Chaveste, said she came to the memorial service not to pray for Velasco but to ask a blessing from the slain woman. “I’m sure she’s in heaven looking down on us,” Chaveste said. “I’m asking her to pray for me.”

Another friend said he had been to many services for victims of random violence--but found this one especially tragic. “She was probably the sweetest person anyone would ever want to meet,” said Anthony Morales, tears welling in his eyes.

Despite the sorrow, Father Norm Supancheck reminded the congregation: “We come together tonight on this very sad occasion, and yet we come as Christians, full of hope and new life.”

About 400 people--including Supervisor John K. Flynn--attended the rosary for Villegas, held at the James A. Reardon Mortuary in Oxnard.

Villegas had worked for two years at the unemployment office, where he lightened the atmosphere with a playful sense of humor, colleagues said. At the service, friends and relatives remembered Villegas as a devoted family man who met his wife, Karen, while attending Oxnard High School.

“He will be sorely missed,” said his cousin, Richard Balades. “He always had a smile on his face. He was a person who would go out of his way to help.”

Deacon Oscar Duke of Santa Clara Church in Oxnard used his sermon to urge the overflow crowd to support their police force.

“We must find more peace and harmony,” he said. “This is an inspiration to increase the police force. We must not expect them to do everything with a small staff.”

Also killed in the unemployment office was Richard Bateman, who worked with a nonprofit group that helps the developmentally disabled. A memorial service for Bateman, 65, will be held at 3 p.m. today at Ted Mayr Funeral in Ventura.

Alvarez is a Times staff writer and Davis is a correspondent. Times staff writers Tina Daunt and Stephanie Simon also contributed to this report.

Victims’ Services

James E. O’Brien--A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 25 Las Posas Road, Camarillo. Burial will be at Santa Clara Cemetery in Oxnard.

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

Phillip Villegas--Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. today at Santa Clara Church, 323 S. E St., Oxnard. James A. Reardon Mortuary in Oxnard is in charge of arrangements.

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