(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)Another mass shooting has rocked the nation. A man dressed in black entered a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, California. He opened fire, killing at least 12 people. There is one name that everyone needs to know, and we should never forget it.
Details are still emerging from last night’s horrific events. A packed country and western dance hall, full of college students, was the scene of yet another mass shooting. An unnamed assailant entered the bar and, using a smoke device to distract, opened fire.
The fact that this took place at a country music event draws terrifying parallels to 2017’s shooting at Las Vegas. There, many country music fans were killed when a gunman opened fire on an outdoor festival.
The shooting came just over a year after 58 people were killed at a country music festival in Las Vegas when a gunman opened fire from a high-rise hotel room. There was an eerie parallel between the two shootings as some of the same people who emerged from the bar, the Borderline Bar & Grill, described having survived the shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.
Witnesses recalled a chaotic scene at the bar, which was filled with hundreds of people, many of them college students: A gunman opening fire, first at a security guard, as patrons dropped to the dance floor, hid under tables and broke windows to escape. [Source: New York Times]
Chaos quickly erupted as the gunman fired into the crowd. According to reports, patrons at the bar ran for cover. Some jumped under tables, while others scrambled to climb into the bar’s attic. As the nightmare unfolded, numerous 911 calls were placed. Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus quickly arrived at the scene.
He heard gunshots come from the bar and refused to hesitate. This heroic officer paid for it with his life.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus and a passing highway patrolman were responding to several 911 calls when they arrived at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks at about 11:20 p.m., the sheriff said. They heard gunfire and went inside.
Helus was immediately hit with multiple gunshots, Dean said. The highway patrolman cleared the perimeter and pulled Helus out, and then waited as a SWAT team and scores more officers arrived. Helus died early Thursday at a hospital. [Source: Breitbart]
By the time more officers arrived, the gunman was already dead. It is yet unclear whether the gunman was killed by officers or shot himself.
According to the Associated Press, police have identified the man as 29 years old. He used a .45-caliber handgun. As of right now, authorities are refusing to discuss more details, such as the man’s name or possible motive of the crime.
What makes this scene even more horrific was the fact that some survivors of the Las Vegas shooting were in attendance at this bar, according to witnesses.
Aside from the college students filling the bar, survivors of the 2017 Las Vegas massacre — which occurred during a country music festival — were also in Borderline.
Chandler Gunn, 23, of Newberry Park, said a friend who works at the bar was also at Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017, when a gunman fired a barrage of bullets from a hotel room perch…
“A lot of people in the Route 91 situation go here,” Gunn said. “There’s people that live a whole lifetime without seeing this, and then there’s people that have seen it twice.” [Source: Fox News]
President Donald Trump has offered his condolences to the victims of the shooting.
I have been fully briefed on the terrible shooting in California. Law Enforcement and First Responders, together with the FBI, are on scene. 13 people, at this time, have been reported dead. Likewise, the shooter is dead, along with the first police officer to enter the bar….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2018
Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus put his life on the line to try to save the citizens of his community, but he paid the ultimate price. His sacrifice should not be forgotten.
