Four years after a terror attack in San Bernardino, community members came together Monday to honor the 14 killed in the mass shooting.
A bell rung 14 times at Cal State San Bernardino’s Peace Garden, each toll honoring a life lost in the 2015 attack at the Inland Regional Center.
Friends and family of those killed came together for a day of remembrance at the university, where five of the victims had graduated from.
At the garden created in memory of the alumni, framed by five large boulders, benches and trees, members embraced, held up photos of loved ones lost and laid down white roses.
“For our family, not a day goes by that we don’t feel the loss and the pain that comes with Yvette physically not being with us,” Erica Porteous told the crowd, holding up a framed photo of her sister of Yvette Velasco, who was one of the victims. “But this brings us comfort,” she said.
Armed with rifles and pistols and clad in black, a San Bernardino County health inspector and his wife walked into an office party at the center on Dec. 2, 2015, and opened fire.
The Redlands couple killed 14 people and wounded 22 others before the two were fatally shot by police hours later.
The FBI said the couple had jointly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State online shortly before the mass shooting, and that they had planned an even bigger attack. Authorities said the couple used five firearms in the shooting and had fired over 100 rounds.
The victims ranged in age from 26 and 60, and most were San Bernardino County employees. The attack, the deadliest in the country since 9/11, shook the community.
“I know now that we never get over great losses— they shape us, they change us,” Cal State San Bernardino Professor William Vandyke said at Monday’s memorial.
The names of those killed in the 2015 attack:
- Isaac Amanios, 60, of Fontana
- Damian Meins, 58, of Riverside
- Juan Espinoza, 50, of Highland
- Nicholas Thalasinos, 52, of Colton
- Bennetta Bet-Badal, 46, of Rialto
- Harry Bowman, 46, of Upland
- Shannon Johnson, 45, of Los Angeles
- Larry Daniel Kaufman, 42, of Rialto
- Robert Adams, 40, of Yucaipa
- Michael Raymond Wetzel, 37, of Lake Arrowhead
- Tin Nguyen, 31, of Santa Ana
- Yvette Velasco, 27, of Fontana
- Sierra Clayborn, 27, of Moreno Valley
- Aurora Godoy, 26, of San Jacinto
