Oxnard police remember fallen officers

Oxnard police officers put on their finest dress uniforms and lined-up outside their station on C Street Wednesday morning to pay tribute to seven officers killed in the line of duty between 1906 and 1996.

They include Deputy Constable Andrew McNaughten, Constable William E. Kelley, Officer Albert Gasperetti, Officer Frederick Clark, Senior Officer John Adair, Officer Jim O’Brien and Officer James Jensen.

Six were killed by gunfire, one died in an automobile accident.

The department also lost a K-9 named Rudy that was stabbed to death in the line of duty.

Jim O’Brien’s son Sean was 6 years old when his dad was killed by a gunman who had shot and killed three other people during a rampage at an unemployment office.

Sean said he drives down the road where his father died every day on his way to and from work.

Sean’s mother, Leslie, said it isn’t easy coming to the annual remembrance every year, but she said the department does a great job putting it on.

Organizers of the event said they want the officers’ relatives to know their loss is something they will never forget.

Many flags around the city of Oxnard were lowered to half-staff Wednesday in memory of the fallen officers.