“I saw 2 more people drop.” Then, people sprinted toward the door. “Run, he’s coming..it was like 50 people trying to get up and run out the back door all at once.”
As police, victim’s families and friends try to wrap their heads around the horror and carnage alleged to have been perpetrated by suspect Ian Long, 29, witness accounts tell a horrifying story.
Sheriff Geoff Dean of Ventura County said they do not have a motive. Dean said Long bought the .45 caliber Glock with an extended magazine legally. He was a U.S. Marine veteran and Dean said may have had PTSD.
Dean said Long shot a security guard outside the bar and then entered the Borderline Bar & Grill and, without saying a word, first fired on a young woman and then opened fired on patrons.
Holden Harrah said he saw alleged suspect Long come in, “pull out his gun and start shooting.”
“I was just blown away by what I saw with mt two eyes,” he said. “He just walked in, didn’t say one word, just started shooting.”
Thousand Oaks shooting witness Taylor Von Molt describes what she saw from the dance floor of the Borderline Bar & Grill: “I turned around and … I saw him fire his weapon one more time and I ran to the nearest exit and tripped and fell … and people kept running on top of me”
“They’re so young, this shouldn’t have happened to them.”
“I saw 2 more people drop.” Then, people sprinted toward the door. “Run, he’s coming..it was like 50 people trying to get up and run out the back door all at once.”
A young witness of the mass shooting at Borderline Bar Nightclub in Thousand Oaks, California says he was able to get at least 30 people to safety after he used a bar stool to smash a window while the gunman was reloading.
Describing a group of “young girls,” he said he thinks they all got out.
Sheriff Dean said police were still working to identify victims and won’t release names until family notifications are made.
He said police have had contact with Long on a number of occasion including a recent disturbance at his home where he was cleared by mental health workers after becoming irate and irrational.