Thousand Oaks shooting

A mass shooting took place on November 7, 2018, in Thousand Oaks, California, United States, at the Borderline Bar and Grill, a country-western bar frequented by college students.[4] Thirteen people were killed, including the perpetrator, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound,[5][6] and a police officer who was shot multiple times, with the fatal wound accidentally being fired by another officer.[7][8] One other person sustained a gunshot wound, while fifteen others were injured by incidental causes.[9]

Thousand Oaks shooting
Part of Gun violence in the United States
Flowers outside Borderline Bar & Grill
Thousand Oaks
Thousand Oaks (southern California)
LocationBorderline Bar and Grill
99 Rolling Oaks Drive
Thousand Oaks, California, United States
Coordinates34°10′36″N 118°52′29″W
DateNovember 7, 2018 (2018-11-07)
11:18 p.m. – 11:38 p.m. PST (UTC−8)
Attack type
Mass shooting, mass murder, murder-suicide
WeaponsGlock 21 .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol,[1][2] folding knife[3]
Deaths13 (including the perpetrator and 1 by stray police gunfire)
Injured16 (1 by gunfire)[lower-alpha 1]
PerpetratorIan David Long

Police identified the killer as 28-year-old Ian David Long, a United States Marine Corps veteran.[10][11]

Events

At 11:18 p.m., a gunman, later identified as Ian David Long, entered the Borderline Bar and Grill and opened fire on the approximately 260 patrons and employees inside.[3][12] At the time, the bar was hosting a regularly scheduled College Country Night event, and it was popular among students in the area, especially those from Pepperdine University,[13][14][15] California Lutheran University, California State University Channel Islands,[16] and Moorpark College.[4] Long was armed with a legally purchased .45-caliber Glock 21 semi-automatic pistol with a laser sight[7] and seven banned high-capacity magazines,[17] carrying a total of 190 rounds, along with a folding knife and ten smoke bombs.[3][12]

Upon entering through the bar's front door, Long first killed the cashier nearby, then started shooting at the patrons.[3] He fired a total of 61 rounds[12] and threw smoke bombs.[4][18][19] Many of the victims died in the first few minutes of the shooting while they were lying on the floor or trying to charge at Long.[3] Witnesses described the gunman as a heavily tattooed white male dressed entirely in black.[18] Some people shattered the bar's windows, allowing many to flee, while some others hid in an employee bathroom or the attic.[3] During the shooting, Long answered a phone call made by the mother of a patron who escaped, and he also made several posts on Instagram expressing his thoughts.[3][20]

At 11:19 p.m., two California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers were alerted to the shooting by people who had managed to escape. They arrived at the bar's parking lot a minute later and were joined by Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Helus four minutes after that. The three officers ventured towards the building, with Helus and one of the CHP officers entering at 11:25 p.m. A minute later, they came under fire from Long, who had been monitoring their movements through the nine security cameras visible on a monitor in the front office where he had been taking shelter.[12][21] In the ensuing gunfight, Helus was shot five times by Long, who used a flashlight with a laser sight on his pistol in the large, darkened, smoke-filled room.[3][22] Positioned between Long and the CHP officer, Helus was also accidentally struck by a bullet from the officer's rifle that went through his heart and fatally wounded him.[7] Moments later, responding Ventura County Sheriff's deputies, who were securing the perimeter, located and evacuated Helus to safety outside. A SWAT team and other police officers arrived on the scene shortly afterwards.[18]

Long stopped shooting victims following the exchange of gunfire with police. At 11:38 p.m., he fatally shot himself in the bar's front office.[12] Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Homeland Security were deployed to further investigate the scene along with EMTs and paramedics from the Ventura County Fire Department and AMR to assist victims.[4][23] Nineteen survivors were rescued from inside the bar in total.[12]

Victims

Twelve people died during the shooting, including nine men and three women. They all died from multiple gunshots, and one victim was also stabbed in the neck.[24] Ten of the civilians died inside the bar, while the eleventh died outside.[12]

Sixteen others were injured, with only one being injured by gunfire.[9][5][18][24]

Perpetrator

Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean identified the gunman as 28-year-old Ian David Long.[29] His gun was reportedly purchased legally.[30][31] Long's parents separated and eventually divorced when he was two to three years old.[12] His father died while he was still a child;[12] according to a cousin, it was from cancer.[32] He and his mother moved frequently due to the latter's job, but they eventually settled into nearby Newbury Park.[12] While he previously lived with roommates in Reseda, Long was living with his mother at the time of the shooting.[33][34] Long's friends said he had been at the bar with them, and some considered him a regular patron.[35]

Long attended Newbury Park High School for his junior and senior years, graduating in June 2008.[12] He served in the United States Marine Corps from August 2008 to March 2013, reaching the rank of corporal, and he had gone to Afghanistan from November 2010 to June 2011. After being honorably discharged, Long attended California State University, Northridge as an athletic training major from 2013 to 2016, but he did not graduate.[12][36] During this time, he had been involved in a motorcycle accident that left him with a collapsed lung; according to his mother, he had begun to "unravel" after the incident. Long had two prior contacts with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, one in 2006 involving a traffic collision and the other in 2015 involving a bar fight; no charges were filed in either incident.[12]

Police and a mental health crisis team visited Long in 2017 for his irate and irrational behavior, but they decided not to detain him at a psychiatric facility.[36][37] A high school teacher raised claims that Long had physically assaulted her as a student but was encouraged not to push the incident so as to not endanger his future in the Marine Corps. In her statement, the teacher alleged that Long had issues long before his military service.[38] Although he had served overseas in the military, behavioral scientist and clinical psychologist Lisa Jaycox said that it was premature to say whether Long suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder or if it was a factor in the shooting.[34][11][39]

Aftermath

Within 24 hours of the shooting, the Woolsey Fire forced the evacuation of many people in the area, including several survivors.[40] The mother of a victim who died in the Thousand Oaks shooting after surviving the 2017 Las Vegas shooting called for gun control legislation from legislators.[41][42][43][44] The only gun store in the town told reporters that there was an increase in individuals looking to purchase a weapon for protection on the day after the shooting.[45]

On November 15, 2018, the funeral for Helus was held. Law enforcement officers, local and state leaders including California Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom, as well as local citizens attended his funeral.[46] A vigil at Calvary Community Church in nearby Westlake Village, for two of their congregation, was attended by around 500 mourners.[47]

Numerous national sports teams highlighted the victims and donated money to those affected by the shooting.[48] Victims were provided with these donations immediately after the shooting. Each victim's family was provided with $20,000 for burial costs.[49] After a third distribution in March 2019, a total of $3.6 million had been contributed by more than 25,000 people and through more than 200 fundraisers. The funds were distributed to the families of victims, those physically injured, and others present in the establishment.[49] A local foundation received and distributed the funds in a cooperative effort without charging any administrative fees.[50]

Susan Orfanos, whose son was killed in the shooting, meets with Julia Brownley and Dianne Feinstein about gun violence in 2020.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors formed the Task Force on Mental Health & Safety in response to the shooting. Initially composed of key county officials, the ongoing task force looks for gaps in the systems that protect the public and that provide mental health care and makes recommendations on how to prevent and lessen the damage from mass shootings.[51]

The "Healing Garden" memorial at Conejo Creek Park was dedicated a year after the shooting.[52][53] The owners of Borderline Bar & Grill originally stated that they plan to renovate and re-open the location.[54] In 2020, they opened a different location in Agoura Hills, California, called BL Dancehall & Saloon.[55] The lease on the site of the shooting expired, and the buildings' owners plan to demolish the structure in 2021 after crosses and other memorial items at the site have been picked up.[56]

See also

References
  1. See victims section for details.
  1. Fauria, Krysta (November 8, 2018). "Marine combat veteran kills 12 in California bar shooting: 'It looked like he knew what he was doing'". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  2. Mindock, Clark; Riotta, Chris; Osborne, Samuel (November 8, 2018). "California shooting - live updates: Police search for motive in Thousand Oaks bar massacre as gunman Ian David Long identified". The Independent. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  3. Karlamangla, Soumya; Mejia, Brittny (December 31, 2018). "Must Reads: Friends took this photo at their favorite bar in Thousand Oaks. Minutes later, the shooting started". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  4. Staff (November 8, 2018). "Thousand Oaks shooting: 13, including officer, killed at Borderline Bar & Grill". Ventura County Star. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  5. "Thousand Oaks: Las Vegas shooting survivor among dead". BBC. November 9, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  6. Cooper, Jonathan J. (November 10, 2018). "Gunman who killed 12 died from self-inflicted gunshot". Associated Press. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
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  9. "Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2018". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
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  13. "Borderline Bar & Grill - CALENDAR". California | Borderline Bar & Grill. November 8, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2018. College Country Night! Learn to Dance w/Lessons at 9:30 & 10:30
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