VICTIMS OF SHOOTING MARK ANNIVERSARY.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Staff Writer

GRANADA HILLS - In a gesture of healing, camp staffers at the North Valley Jewish Community Center planted a flowering tree Thursday on the first anniversary of a gunman's rampage there that left five people wounded a year ago.

About 10 miles away, postal workers in Chatsworth unveiled a plaque in memory of letter carrier Joseph Santos Ileto, 39, whom Buford O'Neal Furrow Jr. is accused of killing after shooting the three children, a counselor and a receptionist at the Jewish center.

``This murderer came to our community for the purpose of shooting children of one ethnic group, and he had so much hate in his heart that he ended up killing a member of a second group,'' said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, who gave the postal workers an American flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol.

``This illustrates that we are all in this together, because those with hatred will find a reason to hate each and every one of us.''

Sherman and officials at the Jewish Community Center urged people to promote love over hate in ``the most diverse city of Los Angeles.''

``I do not consider the JCC or my family as victims of causeless hatred, but rather beneficiaries of unconditional love,'' said Nina Lieberman Giladi, assistant executive director at the center.

``The great success of love over hate is this: We did not panic, we made a chain of love. We were not intimidated, but emboldened.''

As two camp staffers finished planting a purple-flowering potato plant tree, dozens of camp counselors, parents and others repeated in unison a ``Sh'hecheyanu,'' or blessing.

Isabelle Shamoleth, the community center's longtime receptionist who was injured in the shooting, stood close by, crying at the ceremony's end.

Others injured at the center included Mindy Finkelstein, a teen-age counselor; James Zidell and Joshua Stepakoff, both then 6; and 5-year-old Benjamin Kadish, the only one who went to another center after the shooting.

At the request of parents Thursday, the community center kept the children's activities private. As part of their remembrance of the one-year anniversary, the children released scores of butterflies as they sang songs to mark a fresh start.

Meanwhile, letter carriers wore T-shirts with Ileto's name and photo emblazoned on front as they delivered mail Thursday.

``I miss him a lot. Not only was he a co-worker, but a friend,'' letter carrier Juan Saenz said while on his route. ``I played chess with him after work in the parking lot. He was one of those unique people. No matter what kind of day he had, he always had a smile on his face and never had an unkind word to say.''

Ileto's brother, Ismael, his mother, Lilian, and twin sisters also attended the unveiling of the plaque Thursday morning.

``There's been a lot of healing this past year,'' said Ramona Franco, postmaster at the Chatsworth office. ``They're very proud that Joe's being memorialized. It's a bittersweet sort of happiness.''

Authorities said Furrow admitted to killing Ileto because he was a federal employee who was not white. Ileto was Filipino-American. He was filling in for another carrier on his normally scheduled day off.

Furrow allegedly also admitted to the Jewish center shootings and said he did so as a ``wake-up call'' for Americans to start killing Jews.

Furrow faces trial in the shootings in February.

The parents of three children injured in the shooting and Ileto's mother filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against gun makers and sellers of weapons allegedly used by Furrow, The Associated Press reported.

The suit claims that Glock Inc. and other gun makers are partially responsible for the mail carrier's death and the injuries at the community center.

``It's not good enough to let guns go out your factory door and say, 'Sorry, we don't know where they're headed,' '' Joshua Horwitz, an attorney for the families, told The Associated Press.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Samuel Ileto, holding his son, Kyle, attends a ceremony at the Chatsworth Post Office where a plaque was unveiled in honor of his brother, letter carrier Joseph Samuel Ileto.

(2) Employees at the Chatsworth Post Office honor Joseph Ileto on the first anniversary of his death.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(3) Jose Ruelas, left, Brandon Winslow and Amy Grofsky of North Valley Jewish Community Center plant a tree, one year after a gunman's rampage.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer