Sisters, fathers, brothers, mothers ... a look at Sunday’s fallen.
Friends and family share why the loss of nine lives last week in Oregon District is a tragedy for us all.
Five men and four women were killed in the mass shooting Sunday morning in the Oregon District, leaving behind family, friends, neighbors and coworkers.
Megan Betts
Megan Betts, 22, a student at Wright State University and a Bellbrook High School graduate, was the sister of the gunman. Betts was studying environmental science, according to Wright State’s student search online. She planned to graduate in 2020, according to her Facebook page.
“Fromthe start, I knew Megan had a good heart,” her friend Sarah Coffee said. “Shewas good to her roots, and I don’t think she could have watched someone suffer and not done anything.”
Betts interned this summer as a tour guide at the Missoula Smokejumper Visitor Center in Montana.
Daniel Cottrell, her former supervisor at thecenter, described Betts to The Washington Post as a “very positive person” who was well- liked by her peers.
“We really enjoyed the time that she spent working here for us. She was full of life and really passionate,” Cottrell said. “She was a very caring individual.
Coffee said everyone who met Megan enjoyed being around her.
“I want people to know that Megan was a person with a golden, kindheart,” Coffee says. “Shewas someone who made the world better, happier.”
Monica Brickhouse
Monica Brickhouse, 39, a native of Springfifield, had moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, before again moving back to the Dayton area recently.
She appeared to have a catering, design and event planning business called Two Good Girls.
Brittany Hart, a friend of Brickhouse, posted on Facebook that she was “in shock” to learn that
her friend had been killed. Brickhouse was “like another aunt” to her, Hart wrote on Facebook. Hart also wrote on Facebook
that she knew Beatrice Warren-Curtis, 36, whowas also killed in the attack.
“To lose a loved one to senseless violence is just unfair, especially since it could be prevent
able!!” Hart wrote on Facebook. “I amso sorry this has happened to you all!”
Nicholas Cumer
Nicholas Cumer was a Pennsylvania graduate student in the Dayton area for an internship.
Cumer, 25, had completed his undergraduate work with Saint Francis University as an exercise physiology major. He was a graduate student in the Master of Cancer Care program.
Cumer graduated from Washington High School in 2012
“We are heartbroken by the loss of our Nicholas in this senseless act on August 4. As our family grieves, we ask for privacy at
this time,” Cumer’s family said in a prepared statement.
Cumer had been working at the Maple Tree Cancer Alliance as part of an internship.
Maple Tree Cancer Alliance wrote on Facebook that just last week, then on profifififififit offffffffffffered Cumer a full-time position to run one of its new offiffices.
“Nicholas was dedicated to caring for others. He was recognized at the 2019 Community Engagement Awards among students who had completed 100+ hours of service. In addition he was a graduate assistant with the university marching band,” said Saint Francis University President Rev. Malachi Van Tassell said.
“He really wanted to spend the rest ofhis life working with cancer patients,” said Karen Wonders, Maple Tree’s executive director. “Most 25-year- olds don’t think that way.”
“One of the things that stands out about Nick is that for every single one ofhis patients, hemade them feel that theywere themost important person in theworld,” Ms. Wonders said. “That’s not something you can teach.”
Derrick Fudge
Derrick Fudge, a 57-year- old Springfifield resident, was in the Oregon District with his son and friends during the time of the shooting, said Twyla Southall.
“They were all just down there enjoying themselves and had stepped out of, I think, one of the clubs and were in a line to get some food,” she said.
Fudge died in the arms of his son, Dion Green.
Fudge, who grew up in Springfifield with two sisters and three brothers, worked as a cook at several restaurants, Southall said. When he was a child, she recalled, he was hit by a train while playing, and lost three toes.
Fudge was remembered at the Salvation Army in Springfield, where he worked as a bell-ringer and volunteer.
“Every day, I remember him popping his head in and being, like, ‘Hey, Pastor Ryan how are you?’” recalled Ryan Ray, who worked alongside Fudge.
Ray said Fudge was compassionate and had a desire to help others.
Southall, who lives in Columbus, said they called her from the scene that night. Fudge had one granddaughter named Niara Green.
Southall said Fudge loved his family and had a dog Lucy that he “absolutely loved.”
“Hewas a goodman and loved his family,” Southall said.
Thomas McNichols
Thomas McNichols, known to all as TeeJay, was a father of four and a ‘gentle giant,’ said his aunt.
“Hewas so tall and a lot of folks thought he was older than he really was,” said Donna Johnson.
McNichols, 25, was father of two girls and two boys and was living with Johnson in her Westwood neighborhood home in Dayton.
After McNichols got offff work from a Dayton factory Saturday, the two sat eating Twizzlers together before he headed out to the Oregon District with a cousin.
She got a phone call from a niece early Sunday telling her to get down to East Fifth Street.
McNichols attended Dunbar High School, Johnson said. His children range in age from two to eight, she said.
“Everybody loved him. He was like a big kid,” Johnson said. “When all of the movies come out — Batman, Black Panther — he would get all his nephews and take them to the movies.”
Lois Oglesby
Lois Oglesby, 27, was amother of two.
She leaves behind Reign, a newborn, and Hannah, 7. Money raised will be used for funeral expenses in the near future and for the children’s needs going forward.
Oglesby was out with friends on Saturday night, enjoying her
fifirst outing since Reign was born. The baby’s two- month checkup with the pediatrician was Monday.
Oglesby’s mother, LaSandra James, is MVCAP’s director of micro enterprise and computer training, said Cherish L. Cronmiller, the organization’s president and CEO
“LaSandra said it’ll be impossible to fifill her daughter’s shoes,” Cronmiller said. “She’s going to do everything she can to make sure those girls have the life they deserve.”
Oglesby was in nursing school and looked forward to a career that would make the most of her love for children, said her friend Derasha Merrett. Merrett was excited Oglesby had just returned from maternity leave.
“Shewas a wonderful mother, a wonderful person,” Merrett said. “I have cried somuch, I can’t cry anymore.”
Merrett and Lois Oglesby were more than just friends.
“We grew up as cousins,” she said. “We grew up in the same church, on the same drill team. She works at my kids’ daycare. We all grewup in this little town. We’re all family. We’re all hurting behind this.”
Saeed Saleh
Saeed Saleh, 38, was an Eritrea native who emigrated to Dayton about three years ago.
Saleh spent several months in a refugee camp in Sudan after escaping Eritrea, where he met Zaid Nug use Esey as and they married. They trekked on foot across a large swath of the Sahara Desert, stayed brieflfly in Libya and then went by boat to the island of Malta, where they were in a camp four years before landing in Dayton.
“They went through all that hardship — leaving home, going to Sudan, crossing the Sahara, Libya, Malta — and were able to sustain all that pain,” family spokesman Tekeste Abraham said.
“They had settled here and Saeed was providing for his family, as well as his children and other family members back in Eritrea and his brother who’s in a camp in Egypt. They thought
they had left all their troubles in the past.”
Saleh worked at DHL at the Dayton International Airport.
Saleh’s friends and families are thankful for the support from the city of Dayton as they mourn
the loss of their loved one, said Yahya Khamis, president of the Dayton Sudanese community
“We are here as a family, no matter who we are, as the city of Dayton is a welcoming city, so we are trying to come over with it,” he said.
Logan Turner
Logan Turner, 30, worked as a machinist operating computer- controlled tools at the Thaler Machine Co. in Springboro.
After three years on the job, he had already gained a reputation as one of Thaler’s top employees, according to Greg Donson, the president of the company.
“He was quickly working his way to the top,” Donson said. “A very positive person, with a big smile. Just a great guy.”
Turner was the “world’s best son,” his mom said.
Danita Turner, described her son as both “sweet and smart.”
“He was very generous and loving and the world’s best son,” she said. “Everyone loved Logan. He was a happy go lucky guy.”
Turner, a 2008 Springboro graduate who he played on the offffffffffffensive line for his high school football team, had just celebrated his 30th birthday Tuesday and was out with a few friends this weekend in the Oregon District, his mom said.
He had a degree from Sinclair Community College, his mom said. He went on to earn an engineering degree fromthe University of Toledo.
He also attended Wright State University for a while, spokesman Seth Bauguess said.
Beatrice ‘Nicole’ Warren-Curtis
Beatrice “Nicole” Warren-Curtis, 36, was a resident of Carrollton, Va. She grew up in Wilmington, Del., and had moved to Virginia, where she worked in the Virginia Beach offiffice of Anthem, the health insurance company.
“To lose a loved one to senseless violence is just unfair, especially since it could have been prevented,” a friend told our reporters.
She was in the Dayton entertainment district with her friend Monica Brick house ,39, who also died in the tragedy. The two friends were each “one-of-a-kind,” said a former supervisor.
“She loved her family, especially hermom; she enjoyed traveling to watch her nephew play basketball and hanging out with her niece,” her friend Lakisha Jarrett said. “She loved to go to the football games to see her favorite team play, the Philadelphia Eagles.”
They worked once together at Anthem where the two forged a friendship, said Tonya Amos.
Warren- Curtis was in Dayton last weekend to visit Brickhouse. Brickhouse, originally from Springfifield, moved back to the area recently and was living in Dayton with her young son, Amos said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.