Trump dubs California bar shooter 'sick
puppy' as community grieves
Send a link to a friend
[November 10, 2018]
By Eric Thayer
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Reuters) - U.S.
President Donald Trump said on Friday the gunman who killed 12 people in
a crowded South California bar this week was a "very, very sick guy," as
investigators tried to determine what could have motivated the
28-year-old Marine combat veteran.
Even as Thousand Oaks, a suburb 40 miles (64 km) northwest of downtown
Los Angeles, mourned the dead, the city faced a fresh threat on Friday
as wildfires raged in the area, forcing thousands of people from their
homes.
Victims of Wednesday night's rampage in the city of Thousand Oaks
included an 18-year-old freshman student at Pepperdine University, a
security guard at the bar, a graduate of California Lutheran University
and a Marine Corps veteran.
Ian David Long, who served with the Marines in Afghanistan, walked into
the Borderline Bar and Grill, which was packed with dancing college
students, and opened fire, fatally shooting 12 people before apparently
killing himself, law enforcement officials said.
CNN reported that Long had written on Facebook around the time of the
massacre: "I hope people call me insane ... wouldn't that just be a big
ball of irony?" He added, "Yeah.. I'm insane, but the only thing you
people do after these shootings is 'hopes and prayers'.. and wonder why
these keep happening."
Long's Facebook page appears to have since been deleted.
"He is a very sick puppy," Trump said of the gunman, speaking at the
White House before leaving on a trip to Paris.
The FBI was seeking a motive for the country's latest mass shooting.
Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told reporters on Thursday that Long
may have suffered from PTSD.
"He was a Marine, he was in the war, he served time, he saw some pretty
bad things," Trump said. "And a lot of people say he had PTSD and it's a
tough deal."
Richard Berge, who lived near Long and looked after his mother's dogs,
told Reuters she had told him earlier this year she worried her son
might take his own life but did not fear he would hurt her.
The Thousand Oaks massacre took place less than two weeks after a man
shot dead 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue, fueling the debate
over gun ownership in America.
One of the dead, Telemachus Orfanos, had survived the mass shooting at a
country music concert in October 2017 in Las Vegas that killed 58
people, the worst such incident in modern U.S. history, ABC News said,
citing a friend.
It was time for politicians to act, Orfanos' mother, Susan
Schmidt-Orfanos, told ABC News.
"I don't want prayers. I don't want thoughts," she said. "I want gun
control and I hope to God nobody else sends me any more prayers."
[to top of second column]
|
Mourners attend a vigil for the victims of the mass shooting, at the
Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks, California, U.S.
November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The shooting came a day after the election of a Democratic governor
who has pushed for tighter gun control in a state that already has
some of the strictest firearms laws in the country.
'STILL REELING'
The wildfire that started on Thursday has destroyed some homes on
the outskirts of Thousand Oaks and forced the mandatory evacuations
of 75,000 people, as well as closing some highways. A large plume of
smoke grew on the horizon to the northeast of the city on Friday.
Andrea Campbell Conant, a public relations executive who grew up in
Thousand Oaks, said even as she drove to one of the vigils for the
12 people killed on Wednesday night roads had begun to close.
"It's almost like we haven't had enough time to process how we
feel," she said in a telephone interview as she described a
head-spinning shift from a tear-filled vigil to her and her friends
getting calls from relatives who needed help after getting
evacuation orders.
Although mass shootings have become commonplace in modern American
life, Wednesday's carnage still came as a shock to the 127,000
residents of Thousand Oaks, which was named the third safest city in
the United States for 2018 by the Niche research company.
Heather Wynalda, 47, in Conejo Valley, a few miles west of Thousand
Oaks, said her brother's home had burned but he and his family were
safe.
"It's just devastating," she said via Facebook messenger. "This
community pulled together so beautifully in the midst of yesterday's
shooting ... and today, it is being frantically scattered in an
effort to escape the fires."
Evacuation centers have been set up in Thousand Oaks, including a
teen center where frantic parents awaited news of their children
after Wednesday's shooting.
Pepperdine University, which held a prayer service in Malibu
following the shooting, said Friday it was closing its Malibu and
Calabasas campuses due to the wildfires.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington, Bernie
Woodall in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Dana Feldman in Marina del Rey,
California, and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Nick Carey;
Editing by Frances Kerry, Bill Tarrant and Tom Brown)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |