mass shooting – HQ Press

By Paige Meyer

“It was very much the spot of my town and is a very laid back, happy environment to hang out, dance, party and just let loose with your friends,” Quinnipiac University freshman and Thousand Oaks resident Lauryn Yarnall said.

“Everyone around my age absolutely loves Borderline,” she added.

The Borderline Bar and Grill located in Thousand Oaks, California was known as a popular spot for nearby colleges. On Wednesday, the bar was hosting line-dancing lessons for college students ages 18 and up when gunfire stunned the crowd. A night filled with celebration quickly turned to a night of heartbreak.

“I just felt so bad for those kids. The shooter totally knew Wednesday nights were a big night for Borderline,” Daniel Madnick, Borderline regular and Thousand Oaks resident, said.

“It had to be very planned out at least that is what I think because Wednesdays are a huge draw for young kids,” he said.

At about 11:20 p.m., a veteran of the U.S. Marines tossed a smoke bomb and began to open fire. The shooter was a machine gunner in the Marine Corps and has had recent run-ins with the law. In April, officers had to respond to an incident reported at his mother’s home, where he lives.

“My brother was supposed to go to the bar that night and at the very last minute his friend bailed and he didn’t go, he very well could have been there last night and not have made it like the rest of them,” Madnick said.

As bullets flew, terrified patrons and community members fled the scene as fast as possible. According to the Los Angeles Times, the shooter was found dead on the scene and is suspected to have committed suicide, but due to the amount of blood in the Borderline Bar, it is unclear to whether he took his own life or was shot down by officials.

“There are always big bouncers who throw out drunk kids but none that are ready to take on smoke bombs and a gun. I have only seen police activity maybe once at that bar and I go all the time. For the most part it is a very secluded little spot and I can see why he targeted it,” Madnick said.

Sometimes the security at bars, clubs and events can only do so much.

“There are times where I walk into an environment and can smell the tension in the air and I just can tell that something is going to happen,” said Jared Allen, a protection specialist, high profiled celebrity bodyguard and Connecticut club security guard.

“While providing security I have been sliced, shot at, had bottles broken over my head, and attacked. This only comes once in a blue moon,” Allen said.

After the Sandy Hook shooting back in 2012, there have been 1,895 mass shootings affecting people and communities around the world.

Below are some of the hotspots in Hamden where many Quinnipiac students spend their free time. The fear of a possible invasion is setting in close to campus for many students.

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“I didn’t go out in Hamden or New Haven this weekend and I tried to convince my friends not to go out either. It was too soon for me and it is still too soon for me. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that I will be able to go to a club or bar again without thinking of the shooting and considering the possibility that I could die,” Yarnall said.

Yarnall set up a vigil on the Quinnipiac University Quad to honor the lost lives in the Thousand Oaks shooting. She set up 12 candles with the name of each victim on them in front of the student center on Quinnipiac’s main campus.

“I set up the vigil for a lot of reasons,” Yarnall stated. “The main one was to help me feel not so useless, all the way on the East Coast. I’ve wanted nothing more than to go home and be with my family and stand with them to help my community.”

By Jenelle Cadigan

It is the fifth deadliest mass shooting in modern United States history, behind Sandy Hook, where 27 were killed, Virginia Tech, 32 killed, Pulse nightclub, 49 killed, and the Harvest Musical Festival in Las Vegas, just over a month ago, where 58 people were killed.

This time, it happened in a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty-six people are dead and dozens more injured after a shooter opened fire. The victims range in age from 18 months to 77 years old.

“It’s horrific,” the Rev. Douglas House of the Mount Carmel Congregational Church said.

Reverend Douglas J. House - Mount Carmel Congregational Church — Reverend Douglas J. House – Mount Carmel Congregational Church

The Mount Carmel Congregational Church sits on the corner of Whitney Avenue and Dixwell Avenue, and has been a central part of Hamden’s religious life since colonial times.

“People go to places of worship for safety, security … and to focus on how God works in our lives, to ask for forgiveness, to create peace, to create harmony, all the kinds of good things that we value in our society,” House said. “And that an individual goes into a place of worship … and takes advantage of the things that those people are there for, and ends up killing them, it’s beyond words.”

One mile down the road, also on Whitney Avenue, is Our Lady of Mount Carmel, one of seven Catholic churches in Hamden. Father Michael Dolan has been a priest for 20 years and although he has only been with this particular church for five months, he has deep emotional ties to Connecticut.

“I was present for the Sandy Hook (shooting),” Dolan said. “I had to go and do the notification to the families of their child, and that was awful.”

He recalled the last time he saw one of those families.

“They were in the rose garden with President Obama, and you know the legislation hadn’t gone through,” he said. “They were so upset.”

Dolan wanted some sort of legislation.

Father Michael Dolan - Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church — Father Michael Dolan – Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church

“People do an awful lot of damage in a short amount of time because of the fire power. You wish they would have gun control, but it’s very hard to push through,” he said, attributing that to the fact that people don’t want their rights taken away, but also adding that it doesn’t have to be that way. “You can have a gun, but do you really have to have a machine gun? It’s amazing. Armor piercing bullets? Really? Is the deer wearing body armor?”

Nearly five years later, gun control legislation still hasn’t passed, which Dolan says has led to parishioners wanting to take matters into their own hands.

“In my last parish I had two parishioners that would say ‘You know, Father, I’m packing in case there’s a problem, I’ll take them out,’” Dolan said, adding that he knows that would never end well.

He says he doesn’t want to give the impression that the church is a target, but it is one, being a public building and a “symbolically charged space” with a wide-open floor plan. He says he wants the church to be safe, but he admits that it’s difficult to maintain safety when you’re welcoming to anyone. Dolan says parishioners have become hyper-aware during services.

“I noticed after the Las Vegas shooting there was a loud noise in church, and I could tell people were like ‘Is it a shooter?’” Dolan said. “United Illuminating was doing construction, and the backhoe hit the sidewalk and they all jumped. You could tell, but I had to keep my composure.”

But House says hyper-awareness doesn’t equate to fear.

“I think it’s human nature. Maybe we’re more aware of our surroundings today than we used to be, but I don’t think people in my congregation and certainly I’m not any more fearful than I ever have been,” he said.

House and Dolan both want the focus to be on the positives during times like these and after events as horrific as this.

“It can happen anywhere, but you don’t dwell on that,” House said. “If you lived your life constantly thinking about terrorism, the terrorists would’ve won, as so many people have said. So you live your life the way you intend to.”

Dolan’s face lit up with a smile from ear to ear as he talked about all the engagement rings he has blessed, the beautiful babies he has baptized, and the many first communions he has given. And then, he referenced Holy Scripture.

“Where sin is, grace abounds all the more.”

Tag: mass shooting

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