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Family and friends gathered Monday night in honor of a beloved skating rink owner found fatally shot inside his business in Grand Terrace over the weekend. The candlelight vigil started at 8 p.m. in front of California Skate Grand Terrace. Deputies and firefighters found the 43-year-old Brawley resident unconscious inside the business around 2 a.m. Saturday, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Report of a “robbery/silent alarm” had prompted officers to respond to the rink in the 22000 block of Commerce Way, the agency said. Fire personnel followed suit when the deputies saw smoke coming from the building. Crews transported Harsany to a hospital, where it was determined that he had gunshot wounds. The man was pronounced dead just before 7:30 a.m., the Sheriff’s Department said. Firefighters put out two small fires in the rink, the San Bernardino County Fire Department told the San Bernardino Sun. The Sheriff’s Department declined to disclose further details about the case on Monday, but area residents told KTLA that detectives have been going door-to-door seeking information and possible surveillance footage that could be helpful in the investigation. The skating rink will be closed until further notice, the business’s website said as of Monday morning. “This place has always been here for the community,” said Raymond Zamorano, who works nearby. The business regularly welcomed local schools and held yoga classes, he added. Jeff Jeffers said he met Harsany about a year and a half ago, when the victim had just bought the skating rink. “He was pretty excited. He had a lot of plans for it… Boy, it was sad news to know that he’s passed,” Jeffers told KTLA. “The world is a darker place with out him,” Vonnie Glenn Thornton said of Harsany in response to the Facebook post announcing Monday night’s vigil. “Those that loved the rink had an automatic bond with him because we knew he loved it as much or more than we did.” The victim brought joy to the community, Harsany’s brother-in-law, Michael Guymon, wrote on Facebook. “Words don’t and can’t capture how hard this is on everyone in the family as well as the people Ryan employed,” Guymon said. The Inland Empire Derby Divas remembered Harsany in a heartfelt tribute on Facebook, calling him their “champion.”
On Monday, bouquets of flowers and candles sat outside California Skate Grand Terrace.