‘He went in there to save people’

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIF. • One was a veteran police officer who didn’t hesitate to run toward danger. Another was a young man who eagerly awaited the birth of his first sister. Others were a newly minted college graduate and a student with plans to study law. They were among a dozen people killed in a shooting at a bar in Southern California. Authorities believe the gunman, Ian David Long, killed himself.

❚ RON HELUS: ‘IGOTTO GO HANDLE A CALL.’

Ventura County sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus was talking to his wife when calls started coming in about a shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill.

“Hey, I got to go handle a call. I love you. I’ll talk to you later,” he told her, according to Sheriff Geoff Dean.

It was the last time she would talk to her husband.

Helus rushed toward the shooting and immediately exchanged fire with the shooter inside the bar, Dean said. Helus was hit multiple times and died at a hospital.

Sgt. Eric Buschow, who said Helus was a friend, described the 29-year veteran as a “cop’s cop.”

“The fact that he was the first in the door doesn’t surprise me at all,” he said. “He’s just one of those guys that wouldn’t hesitate in a situation.”

Helus took up fly fishing a few years ago and loved pursuing the hobby in the Sierra Nevada mountains with his grown son, Buschow said.

“He was just a great guy, a gentle soul,” Buschow said. “Patient. Calm no matter what. When you call 911, he’s one of the guys you want showing up.”

Thousands lined streets and many others pulled over to honour the fallen officer during a sombre 40-kilometre procession that took Helus’s body from a hospital to a coroner’s office.

Dean choked back tears talking about Helus and called him a hero.

“He went in there to save people and paid the ultimate price,” he said.

❚ CODY COFFMAN: ‘THE BIG BROTHER THAT MY KIDS NEED’

Cody Coffman had just turned 22 and was about to fulfil his dream of serving his country by joining the army, said his father, Jason Coffman, who wept as he told a group of reporters that his first-born son was among the victims.

Cody adored his siblings — three brothers between ages six and nine — and he couldn’t wait for the birth of a sister, due on Nov. 29, said Jason Coffman of Camarillo.

“Cody was the big brother that my kids need,” he said. “He was so excited to have his first sister and now she’ll never know ...”

Jason Coffman said his son was passionate about baseball, serving as an umpire for a little league, and they went fishing together.

“That poor boy would come with me whether he liked it or not,” he said. “That’s the kind of stuff I am truly going to miss.”

Coffman said he last spoke to his son Wednesday night before Cody headed to the bar. “The first thing I said was, ‘Please don’t drink and drive,”’ he said. “The last thing I said was, ‘Son, I love you.’”

Sarah DeSon, 19, said she believed she survived because of the quick reaction of her friend Cody. “He was protecting everyone,” she said. “He got up and he just yelled, ‘Everyone, run!’”

❚ JUSTIN MEEK: ‘HEROICALLY SAVED LIVES’

Justin Meek had just graduated in May from California Lutheran University, where the campus chapel overflowed Thursday with people attending a service of mourning.

Cal Lutheran president Chris Kimball said Meek was among the dead and had “heroically saved lives” in the attack, without giving details.

Meek, 23, had majored in criminal justice, school spokeswoman Karin Grennan said.

He worked as a respite caregiver supporting families with children with special needs, said Sharon Francis, chief executive of Channel Island Social Services. He was hired last summer and mostly worked with kids with developmental disabilities.

“Parents just adored him. He was able to bond with their kids,” she said. “He was just an all-around guy.”

Scott Roberts, 20, a junior at Cal Lutheran, said he’s friends with Meek’s sister, who also goes to the school, and that Meek is from a very close family.

“He was just the nicest dude,” he said. “I’m just praying he’s in a better place.”

❚ ALAINA HOUSLEY: ‘AN INCREDIBLE YOUNG WOMAN’

Alaina Housley was just 18, a promising student at Pepperdine University with plans to study law, her family said.

Adam Housley, a former Fox News correspondent, and Tamera Mowry-Housley, an actress known for the 1990s TV series “Sister Sister,” said their niece was killed at the bar where she had gone line dancing with friends.

“Alaina was an incredible young woman with so much life ahead of her, and we are devastated that her life was cut short in this manner,” the couple said in a statement.

Alaina was bright, popular and well-loved, a student who had a 4.5 grade-point average since junior high school and earned college scholarships, said her grandfather, Art Housley.

“She’s a really good kid,” he said, fighting tears, before her relatives learned their fears of her death were true. “Everybody loves her.”