Killer Mocked 'Thoughts & Prayers' During Thousand Oaks Massacre

WORLDVOGUENEWS May 7, 2020

LOS ANGELES, CA — Susan Schmidt-Orfanos knows the torture of waiting to hear if a loved one survived a mass shooting. She knows the dizzying relief of finding out her son made it out alive when a gunman killed 58 people at a music festival in Las Vegas last year. And she knows the sinking devastation of learning he couldn’t escape again when a hooded gunman opened fire, killing 12 people at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks Wednesday night.

“My son was in Las Vegas with a lot of his friends, and he came home. He didn’t come home last night,” she told KABC-TV, her voice raw with pain. “And I don’t want prayers. I don’t want thoughts. I want gun control, and I hope to God nobody else sends me any more prayers. I want gun control. No more guns!”

What Schmidt-Orfanos couldn’t know when she laid her pain bare for the world was that her son’s killer was thinking about “thoughts and prayers” when he took her son’s life. On Friday investigators revealed that 28-year-old former Marine, Ian David Long, was posting on Instagram during the attack. According to the Los Angeles Times, Long was mocking the inevitable thoughts and prayers he knew would come in the aftermath of the devastation he had wrought.

“We can see it from the time stamps and other evidence as well what he was doing: He would fire shots, then go on the Instagram account,” Ventura County sheriff’s Sgt. Eric Buschow told the Los Angeles Times.

While a nation numbed to the horrors of mass shootings watched the devastation unfold again Thursday, many of the survivors of the tragedy at the Borderline Bar & Grill had actually been through it before. They bear the macabre distinction of surviving multiple mass shootings in an era when massacres happen with disturbing regularity. Once again, they dodged bullets, and again they’re left trying to understand the mentality of a mass murderer. Again, they’re mourning friends, and they are honoring the heroes who emerged amid tragedy.

They Died Heroes

Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Ron Helus knew what he was running into Wednesday night. But he did it anyway.

A 29-year law enforcement veteran on the verge of retirement, he knew the protocol for a mass shooting: Don’t let more people die while waiting for backup. Stop the shooter.

Helus was on the phone with his wife when the active-shooter call came in, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told reporters.

“He said, ‘Hon, I got to go. I love you. I gotta go on a call,'” said Dean.

Then he ran toward the screams, toward the gunfire.

Related: Thousand Oaks Shooting Victims Remembered

Inside, the Borderline Bar & Grill was in chaos. Police suspect Long, clad in a black hood, shot a security guard outside the bar, tossed smoke bombs into the bar and opened fire.

People couldn’t believe what they were seeing, said survivor Dylan Short.

“A lot of people froze up. Part of it was because of how little remorse the guy had — he had none,” Short told NBC News. “It wasn’t even like a human being. He was so cold…..He was standing at the front of the bar going back and forth from each side. Pretty much his goal, I guess, was to trap us in the bar.”

Short said he saw Long walk in and shoot a young cashier. Sean Adler, a 47-year-old Simi Valley High School Wrestling Coach working at the bar to make extra money for his family, tried to disarm the shooter.

“Within the first minute there were two people who tried to approach him,” Short added. “The man came in, and he’s definitely worked a weapon before. He stepped back and shot three people probably within three to four seconds.”

Adler and others died trying to stop the shooter. But their courage gave more people a chance to escape. With the initial shock worn off, the crowd of hundreds attempted to flee. For many, there was nowhere to run that didn’t put them in the line of fire. They shattered windows to escape.
Justin Meek, a 23-year-old bouncer at the bar, threw a barstool through a window and began helping others out, according to friends who made it out alive because of him. He was shot helping others escape.

“Meek heroically saved lives in the incident before his life was cut short,” according to a statement by Cal Lutheran University, where Meeks had studied.

Less than three minutes into the attack, Helus, the 54-year-old Sheriff’s Sergeant, charged into the building. Long turned his gun from the crowd to the deputy, shooting him repeatedly. A California Highway Patrol officer charged in after Helus and pulled the fallen officer out of the line of fire. With the officers’ arrival, Long gave up his position and retreated to the bar’s backroom where he shot himself. Helus died, but countless others survived because of him.

In all, eleven people died in the Borderline bar. Helus died at the hospital. About a dozen more were wounded. And survivors shared tales of strangers who shielded them, who dragged them to cover and lifted them to safety through shattered windows.

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The Mind Of A Murderer

Local investigators, FBI agents, bomb-sniffing dogs and digital forensic experts descended on the Newbury Park home Thursday where Long lived with his mother, looking for anything that would explain his actions. They had been there before.

Dean said sheriff’s officials had limited contact with Long over the years. They interviewed him once over a traffic collision, and in April they were called to the home for a disturbance involving Long. According to neighbors, Long, a former Marine who served as machine-gunner in Afghanistan, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He was known to have rage issues. Neighbors could hear him shouting and kicking holes in the wall. But when police evaluated him in April, he was not considered a danger or a candidate to be taken into custody for a mental-health evaluation. He was never arrested.

A former track coach at Newbury Park High School told the Los Angeles Times that Long assaulted her when he was a student on the track team in 2008. Dominique Colell said she found a missing cellphone that belonged to Long. But when he saw her trying to identify its owner, he began cursing and grabbed her, she said.

“He started to grab at me. He reached around and with one arm, groped my stomach. He grabbed my butt with the other arm,” she told the Times. “He was very determined and very angry. He was probably the only student that I was actually scared of when I coached there.”

When Colell heard about the Borderline tragedy, she remembered the angry boy that Long used to be.

“I heard the name and my jaw just dropped. I couldn’t believe it,” Colell said. “It was shocking — but it wasn’t shocking that it was him.”

Long was discharged from the Marines after serving from August 2008 to March 2013, according to the Department of Defense. He earned various commendations and honors, including a good conduct medal. He attended CSUN from 2013-16, studying athletic training, according to the university. He was apparently looking forward to graduating, but something derailed him. He posted on a military forum about his frustration with the military, explaining he was leaving the service because he didn’t like being ordered around by people less educated than he was. But for some reason, Long never got his diploma. He chose ‘college night’ to open fire at the Borderline, taking the lives of several young students.

Long was armed with a Glock .45-caliber handgun that had an “extended magazine” allowing it to hold more than the standard number of 10 bullets, according to Dean. He purchased the gun legally, Dean said, although the magazine extension would make it illegal in the state.

“We will be sure to paint a picture of the state of mind of the subject and do our best to identify the motivations,” an FBI spokesman said. “We will pursue the digital trail and any other leads that we need to.”

Much of the work will be focussed on identifying Long’s place in the pattern of mass shootings, a science investigators call “pattern analysis,” according to the FBI. Investigators will sift through his writings and the timeline leading up to the shooting for clues that could help stop the next mass shooting.

Thoughts and Prayers

On Thursday night, hundreds gathered at a candlelight vigil to mourn the Borderline victims. For many, it was the second time they gathered to mourn friends killed at random by a gunman. Last year, the Borderline Bar & Grill hosted a fundraiser for five members of the community killed when a gunman opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people.

As they did before, the community came together to help and to heal. Hundreds lined up to donate blood at a local high school in the hours after the shooting. Still others brought food and water to give to those waiting to donate. Residents brought food and drink to the first responders. Hundreds stood in silent salute along the route, as a law enforcement procession carried Helus’ body from the hospital to the county medical examiner. They gathered in spontaneous tribute outside local hospitals to thank the doctors and nurses who aided the victims.

An outpouring of support and calls for change flooded across Southern California.

The Los Angeles Kings and Minnesota Wild paid tribute Thursday evening to the victims of the shooting. Both teams wore specially designed “Enough” stickers on their helmets during the Kings’ 3-1 loss at Staples Center. The players held up black “Enough” signs during a moment of silence.

“This is a horrible event, another senseless act of incredible violence and it clearly hits home here with us again as Thousand Oaks is part of our community,” Kings president Luc Robitaille said.

“We are thankful to the first responders and everyone who has been helping the victims and their loved ones. We definitely will do our part to help the community but more importantly we want to help amplify the message that enough is enough,” he said. “We cannot accept these incidents as a new reality.”

Proceeds from the 50-50 raffle at the game will be donated to the Ventura County Family Foundation, and the team will match the amount raised. Raffle proceeds during Saturday’s game against the Calgary Flames will also be donated to the organization.

The LA Rams, Chargers, Lakers and LeBron James all issued statements of sorrow.

The Chargers tweeted, “We are deeply saddened by the terrible news coming out of Thousand Oaks this morning. Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones during this horrific tragedy, and we honor the brave and heroic actions of first responders who rushed to the scene to help.”

Rev. Joseph Gomez, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, whose archdiocese includes Ventura County, prayed that the victims and their families could find comfort.

“Let us pray hard for all the families, for those who were murdered and those who were injured, and in a special way for the heroic officer, Sgt. Ron Helus, who lost his life defending people in the attack,” said Gomez. “May God grant perpetual light to those who have died, and may he bring comfort to their loved ones and peace to our community.”

The Simi Valley gun store where Long purchased his gun also offered prayers.

The Smokin’ Barrel remained closed. A note on its door read,”Out of the respect for the victims and their families we will be closed today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this tragic event.”

City News Service contributed to this report. Mourners cry and comfort each other during a vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on November 8, 2018 in Thousand Oaks, California. Twelve people including a Ventura County Sheriff sergeant and the gunman died in the mass shooting at Borderline Bar and Grill . (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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