VENTURA : Jobless Office Staffs Alerted of Threats

Employees at the unemployment offices in Ventura and Oxnard were alerted by police Friday about a potential copycat gunman who threatened to shoot employees and police officers, a Ventura police spokesman said.

The 37-year-old Ventura man had reportedly made threats that he wanted to imitate slain gunman Alan Winterbourne by attacking employees at the unemployment offices, the spokesman said.

The man, who was recently fired from a job at Ventura Community College, was arrested by the Ventura Police Department and taken to the county mental health hospital for 72-hour observation, the spokesman said.

The Ventura unemployment office closed Friday afternoon as a precaution and the Oxnard office was put on alert with a police car stationed in the rear of the building, said Vickie Lopez, an employee at the Oxnard office.

One employee who had been on disability leave returned to the Oxnard office on Friday for the first time since the Alan Winterbourne shooting spree, Lopez said. She left the office shaken, unable to complete her work, Lopez said.

“The state police officer was supposed to leave today and they decided to keep him another week. But what then? What’s to keep a copycat like this guy from getting us? We’re like scapegoats for people frustrated with not finding a job.”