The Oxnard Rampage : Winterbourne Rites Draw 450 : Crime: The man who killed four in a violent spree is remembered as a caring, loving, gentle person. ‘It wasn’t the Alan we knew,’ a pastor says.

Friends and relatives of Alan Winterbourne--shot to death last week after staging the bloodiest shooting rampage in Ventura County history--remembered the unemployed computer engineer Wednesday as a caring and loving man who kept his inner turmoils to himself.

Many of the 450 mourners attending a memorial service at Trinity Lutheran Church in Ventura said they could not reconcile Winterbourne’s violent outburst with his gentle, soft-spoken personality.

Winterbourne, 33, killed three people in a state unemployment office in Oxnard on Dec. 2, then fatally shot a police detective in a roadside gun battle. He then sped to the Ventura unemployment office, where police shot him 11 times, killing him.

“We all knew he was frustrated with not being able to find a job, but none of us knew to what degree,” said Rob Lockart, Winterbourne’s brother-in-law. “He had another world we didn’t see.”

While they expressed sympathy for Winterbourne’s victims, friends and family preferred to dwell on the young man’s tender side. In tearful speeches and handwritten letters, they recalled his love for children, his volunteer work to help homeless people, his enthusiasm for bike riding.

The deadly rampage “was so uncharacteristic of Alan,” Pastor Ken Gesch said.

“It wasn’t the Alan we knew,” agreed Luther Tolo, a former pastor at Trinity Lutheran. Emphasizing his bewilderment, Tolo repeated, “It wasn’t the Alan we knew.”

Winterbourne’s funeral arrangements were private. His mother, Ila, and sister, Carol Lockart, attended the memorial service and sponsored a reception afterward for those who came to express condolence and support.

Ila Winterbourne, who bounced Lockart’s 16-month-old son on her knee throughout the service, said she was touched--but not surprised--by the outpouring of sympathy.

“All the memories I have of Alan are wonderful,” she said, adding that Alan’s final actions surprised her as much as anyone. She said she had seen no sign of her son’s anguish because “there was nothing wrong.”

Pastor Dave Hall said that he, too, never guessed the depth of Winterbourne’s emotional turmoil. Though he occasionally asked about the young man’s job hunt, Hall said he never got an inkling that the stress of chronic unemployment was pushing Winterbourne to desperation. A computer engineer, Winterbourne had been unable to find a job since quitting a post at Northrop in early 1986.

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“He never let on the inner torment and struggle he was going through,” Hall said. He recalled that Winterbourne always wore a warm smile under his bushy mustache.

In an emotional sermon, Hall urged those attending not to judge Winterbourne before scrutinizing their own behavior. Reading from the Bible, he said that inflicting any hurt, however minor, is “the same, in God’s eyes, as murder, because it cuts you off from others.”

Hall asked the mourners to consider that “words and attitudes can cause deep pain and hurt . . . and ultimately can kill (other people’s) spirit so they lose any sense of self-worth.” Casting Winterbourne as a victim of an increasingly fragmented society, he added: “We are all guilty of adding to the brokenness of this world.”

As an all-female choir sang “Ave Verum,” Hall sobbed quietly.

The memorial service began with three of Ila Winterbourne’s close friends playing classical sonatas. Two police officers in civilian clothing stood across the street as mourners streamed into the wood-paneled sanctuary.

During the ceremony, another friend sang “Blowin’ in the Wind,” a song Ila Winterbourne said she wanted to hear--though her son would have cringed.

“He probably would have hated it,” Ila Winterbourne said. “Alan liked Jimi Hendrix.”

Winterbourne also liked collecting stamps and coins, growing orchids and backpacking. He regularly participated in the annual Sea to the Summit bike ride--an arduous 100-mile trek to support Project Understanding, a group dedicated to helping homeless people.

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“In the last few years, he wasn’t in as good shape as he had been during his student days, so he brought up the rear, but he was always a tender and caring person,” said Robert Osher, who taught Winterbourne high school algebra.

While most of the mourners said they had known Winterbourne through church, a few strangers came to pay their respects. One member of the congregation, Mike Standart, said he considered Winterbourne part of the “family” at Trinity Lutheran Church, even though they had not been friends.

“You don’t turn your back on your family,” Standart said.

An Alan Winterbourne Memorial Fund has been established at the church to raise money for a counseling program for unemployed young adults. Contributions can be made directly to the church.

Times staff writer Tina Daunt and correspondents Maia Davis and Julie Fields contributed to this story.