Gunman in Simi Valley attack ID’d

Simi Valley police Wednesday confirmed the identity of the gunman who fatally shot a woman and critically wounded two other victims at a tire store a day earlier.

Authorities said Robert J. Becerra, 29, of Simi Valley, who was found dead at the scene of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, began shooting at the Tire Pros store at Los Angeles Avenue and Tapo Street about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. Becerra’s motive for the rampage has not been determined, police said.

Police said they last had contact with Becerra in February, when he was given a speeding ticket. On Aug. 20, 2005, someone who lived near the Becerra family residence in the 1200 block of Cochran Street notified police that a shot had been fired toward his home, police said.

Becerra admitted to police that he had fired a handgun belonging to his father at what he thought was a prowler in his backyard, but the figure turned out to be a statue. The bullet was recovered from the neighbor’s roof and no charges were filed because the neighbor declined to prosecute, authorities said.

A man who answered the telephone at the Becerra home Wednesday declined to identify himself and said that no family members were available for comment.

Sgt. Dave Livingstone, a police spokesman, said investigators had ruled out any connection between Becerra and Susan M. Sutcliffe, a stay-at-home mother who was killed as she waited outside the Tire Pros shop while workers repaired a slow tire leak on her 1991 Chevy Astro van.

Livingstone said store officials maintain that Becerra was never an employee and they’re still trying to determine whether he had ever been a customer.

A spokesman for Simi Valley Hospital said store employee Albert Ramirez, 20, who was shot in the abdomen, remained in serious but stable condition, and store owner Henry John Heeber IV, 37, who was shot in both arms, remained in good condition late Wednesday afternoon.

Sutcliffe’s husband of 22 years, Michael, said Tuesday that she had celebrated her 53rd birthday last week. She was excited about returning to college to earn certification in child development now that her own children -- 21-year-old Greg and 16-year-old Kathryn -- were becoming independent, he said.

“My wife didn’t have any illusions of doing great things, she just wanted to help others,” Michael Sutcliffe said hours after her death. “This is devastating. I don’t even know where to start. In a life plan, you plan for retirement. You don’t plan for a murder in the family.”

greg.griggs@latimes.com