Benefit Honors Slain Detective; Funds Raised Will Go to Scholarships

While flags and flowers still mark the site where Oxnard Police Detective James O’Brien died earlier this month, dozens of friends and co-workers remembered the fallen lawman at a fund-raiser in Port Hueneme on Sunday.

Two country bands, a raffle, barbecued chicken and hot dogs drew more than 50 people to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 3935 parking lot on Surfside Drive for the daylong party.

Although organizers of the fund-raiser originally billed the event as a benefit for O’Brien’s family, officials said Sunday that they would instead add the money to a scholarship fund for students at three high schools who plan to pursue public service careers.

Oxnard Police Detective Eugene Rodriguez said expense funds had already been set aside for O’Brien’s widow and two small children.

“It’s not so much the memory of him; it’s the work he was doing,” said Rodriguez, who worked with O’Brien in the department’s youth services division. “Most of those kids--the low-income, high-risk youths that he worked with--are kids that otherwise wouldn’t go to college.”

O’Brien and three others were killed Dec. 2 by unemployed computer engineer Alan Winterbourne.

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The disgruntled job-seeker opened fire in the Oxnard unemployment office, killing three people and injuring four others before making his way toward the Ventura jobs office. O’Brien was fatally shot by Winterbourne near Victoria Avenue and Olivas Park Drive as he pursued the gunman, who was later killed by police.

A memorial of poinsettias, American flags and a Christmas tree still marks the Victoria Avenue roadside where O’Brien died in the line of duty.

On Sunday, most talk of O’Brien was upbeat. Oxnard resident Eddie Duenez said he remembers O’Brien as a watchful officer who cared deeply about the neighborhoods he patrolled.

“It’s going to be a definite loss to the community,” said Duenez, who brought his three sons to the afternoon barbecue. “He’s going to be missed by everybody.”

Oxnard Police Sgt. John Crombach and Cmdr. Jeff Young took a break from their Sunday shifts to show support for O’Brien’s family. Both enjoyed barbecued chicken dinners for which they paid $6.

Crombach said it was less than one year ago that O’Brien sold him on the idea of having an officer dedicated solely to graffiti and gang programs.

“First thing I know, he’s bringing in intelligence and making arrests,” Crombach said. “You talk about one position that’s going to be hard to fill. O’Brien single-handedly brought tons of folks together for one common goal.”

Mike Tingvall spent most of the day hovering over 200 pounds of chicken and a black kettle of baked beans.

“A police officer is like a military man,” Tingvall, a 25-year veteran of the U. S. Navy, said as he rolled more chicken across the grill. “We’re all brothers.”

Tingvall added: “I didn’t know the man, but I believe in what he was doing.”

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Debbie Harman of Channel Islands National Bank spent her day off sitting under a borrowed canopy selling meal tickets for the event. She said it was the least she could do to show her support for O’Brien and other law enforcement officers.

“He was instrumental in setting up the Neighborhood Watch in my neighborhood,” she said of O’Brien. “He cut crime down and graffiti down like you wouldn’t believe.”

The smaller-than-expected turnout did not discourage Harman. She said the scholarship fund she oversees at the bank had more than $20,000 in it as of Friday.

“The community’s done so well so far; I can’t see them letting up now,” she said.