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Chilling final words reportedly posted by California gunman
More information about the tragic shooting at the Borderline grill surface, shedding some light on why the shooting may have occurred.
On October 7, 2018, the 28-year-old Ian David Long walked into the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks and killed 12 people, including a police officer and himself, while injuring several others.
While trying to piece together a motive and cause for this tragedy, authorities identified a Facebook post that Ian had made during the attack and it read:
“I hope people call me insane... (laughing emojis).. wouldn’t that just be a big ball of irony? Yeah.. I’m insane, but the only thing you people do after these shootings is ‘hopes and prayers’.. or ‘keep you in my thoughts’... every time... and wonder why these keep happening...”
Absolutely heartbreaking interview from witness with @ABC7Jory at scene of reported mass shooting at #Borderline in #ThousandOaks. “They’re so young, this shouldn’t have happened to them.” pic.twitter.com/gwHU4XCfaO
— Greg Lee (@GregLeeKTVU) November 8, 2018
Light has also been shed around Ian’s connection to Borderline Bar & Grill, several friends said that he frequented the bar and liked hanging out there. This particular country music bar was also a regular gathering spot for last year's Las Vegas massacre survivors. During the attack at a country music festival, 58 people were killed.
It was also suggested that because Ian got bullied at school for having a lazy eye, it affected him deeply, Ian knew that many of those who bullied him would be at the club that night, and went on a shooting spree for revenge.
#Borderline #ThousandOaks Ambulances from Ventura and Los Angeles Counties in staging. pic.twitter.com/qGW1yhQlnB
— VCscanner (@VCscanner) November 8, 2018
Read more on our Twitter account @amomama_usa.
Survivors from the area would regularly gather at the Borderline and several of the survivors were present when Ian entered the bar on Wednesday night. It is unclear whether Ian chose the bar because of its connection to the Las Vegas massacre.
Many white supremacists will try to hide in plain sight, by wearing clothing with symbols associated with nazism.#ThousandOaks#IanLong pic.twitter.com/BINeTWCzNK
— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) November 8, 2018
Ian got married in 2009 in Honolulu, where his Marines unit was based, but the couple separated in 2011 and later dissolved their marriage in April 2013 in California which stated:
“Irreconcilable differences have caused the irremediable breakdown of our marriage.”
Hi @NRA - if the #ThousandOaks shooter was a US war hero with PTSD, does that make him a good or bad guy with a gun?
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 8, 2018
And if the first person he killed was the armed security guard, is the answer to mass shootings still armed security guards? pic.twitter.com/D8zE2dSzj2
Ian left the Marines the same year and headed to California to attend college. After a friend of Ian’s read the newly found Facebook post, he said:
“That does not sound like Ian to me at all. I don’t know what was going through his head when he wrote this. It must have been terrible.”
Patrons that survived shared their experiences as many recalls being shielded by other male patrons, being pulled to safety or trying to hide in an effort to stay out of harm’s way. One survivor, the 19-year-old Teylor Whittler recalled:
“I was on the dance floor dancing and all of a sudden I heard the shots. I turned around, and I saw it was an actual person with a gun and I couldn’t believe it at first, but my initial reaction was to run and take cover.”
Her friend, Sarah Rose DeSon recalled the smoke grenades and was badly shaken up just like all the other patrons. John Hedge was close to the bar’s entrance with his step-dad when Ian began shooting and said:
“I was talking to my step-dad, and I just started hearing these big pops. Pop, pop, pop. There was probably 12 shots before I got out the front door.”
After the attack authorities found Ian in an office close to the entrance with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Ian's social media accounts have all been deleted.
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